Which returned more over the last year, PHYL or SPHY?

In the year to Oct 20, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PHYL returned +0.8% and SPHY +1.1%.

Which is cheaper, PHYL or SPHY?

SPHY is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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PHYL vs SPHY: Differences, Returns & Fees

PHYL's duration was 3.0 years on May 29, 2026 and SPHY's 3.2 on Jun 30, 2026; SPHY charges 0.05% to PHYL's 0.39%. Net assets: $1.5bn on Oct 19, 2026 for PGIM Active High Yield Bond ETF, and $11.7bn on Oct 20, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF.

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Answers cite the figures on this page.

SPHY costs 0.34 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.3 points; SPHY is 7.8 times larger.

PHYL vs SPHY: Differences, Returns & Fees
	PHYL	SPHY
Expense ratio	0.39%	0.05%
Net assets, as of Oct 19, 2026	$1.5bn	$11.7bn
Total return, 1 year	+0.8%	+1.1%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	ICE BofA US High Yield Index
Holdings in common	33%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated May 29, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026.

+0.8%

PHYL total return, 1 year

+1.1%

SPHY total return, 1 year

0.39%

PHYL expense ratio

0.05%

SPHY expense ratio

Client brief · page 1 of 2Report BR-CB91E4225C

PHYL and SPHY are built for the same job. How do they differ in cost, holdings and results?

What each follows. PHYL follows No index, actively managed and SPHY follows ICE BofA US High Yield Index.
Holdings in common. 33% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated May 29, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026).
Cost. PHYL charges 0.39% of assets a year and SPHY 0.05%, a gap of 0.34 points.

Data as of Oct 20, 2026. The differences are picked by a fixed rule, in a fixed order; the PDF prints it. Page 2 has the returns, overlap, risks and sources.

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What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, PHYL and SPHY hold 33% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated May 29, 2026 and Jun 30, 2026.

50%

half

33% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding PHYL SPHY

SATS 10.75 11/30/29 ., due Nov 30, 2029 0.41% 0.40%

BHCCN 10 04/15/32 144A, due Apr 15, 2032 0.40% 0.42%

MERIDI 6.25 04/30/31 144A, due Apr 30, 2031 0.57% 0.40%

TRACTD 6.5 05/01/31 144A, due May 1, 2031 0.36% 0.30%

TRACTC 5.875 03/01/31 144A, due Mar 1, 2031 0.53% 0.27%

ASUCOR 8.375 02/01/34 144A, due Feb 1, 2034 0.35% 0.25%

WULF 7.75 10/15/30 144A, due Oct 15, 2030 0.40% 0.24%

VENLNG 9.5 02/01/29 144A, due Feb 1, 2029 0.44% 0.24%

ASUCOR 8 12/31/32 144A, due Dec 31, 2032 0.46% 0.22%

NLSN 9.29 04/15/29 144A, due Apr 15, 2029 0.35% 0.19%

WIN 8.25 10/01/31 144A, due Oct 1, 2031 0.41% 0.19%

EA 7.25 07/01/33 144A, due Jul 1, 2033 0.18% 0.21%

Only in PHYL

PGIM AAA CLO ETF 1.08%

T 3.75 04/30/28, due Apr 30, 2028 0.50%

VST 7.75 10/15/31 144A, due Oct 15, 2031 0.45%

GGAMFI 8 02/15/27 144A, due Feb 15, 2027 0.41%

T 3.5 12/15/28, due Dec 15, 2028 0.40%

BZH 5.875 10/15/27, due Oct 15, 2027 0.39%

MGM 4.625 09/01/26, due Sep 1, 2026 0.34%

VST V7 PERP 144A 0.34%

Only in SPHY

Cloud Software Group Inc, due Mar 31, 2029 0.28%

Cloud Software Group Inc, due Sep 30, 2029 0.27%

CRC Insurance Group LLC, due Jun 1, 2031 0.24%

Centene Corp, due Dec 15, 2029 0.22%

HUB International Ltd, due Jun 15, 2030 0.21%

CCO Holdings LLC / CCO Holdings Capital Corp, due Mar 1, 2030 0.21%

Discovery Global Holdings Inc, due Mar 15, 2042 0.20%

Centene Corp, due Jul 15, 2028 0.18%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

PHYL

PGIM Active High Yield Bond ETF

SPHY

State Street SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF

Where it sits Bond ETF Bond ETF

Issuer PGIM State Street

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +0.8% +1.1%

Its benchmark over the same days −1.9% (AGG) +1.0% (BBHY)

Gap to its benchmark +2.7 pts vs AGG +0.1 pts vs BBHY

Expense ratio 0.39% 0.05%

Holdings 783 1930

Net assets, PHYL as of Oct 19, 2026 and SPHY as of Oct 20, 2026 $1.5bn $11.7bn

PHYL and SPHY on the fields both publish, as of Oct 20, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

About PHYL

PHYL is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +0.8% with distributions reinvested, against −1.9% for its benchmark, the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% a year.

About SPHY

SPHY tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 20, 2026 it returned +1.1% with distributions reinvested, against +1.0% for its benchmark, the ICE BofA US High Yield Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.05% a year.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, PHYL or SPHY?: In the year to Oct 20, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PHYL returned +0.8% and SPHY +1.1%.
Which is cheaper, PHYL or SPHY?: SPHY is cheaper, by 0.34 percentage points a year. That is about $34 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

HYG vs PHYL PHYL vs SHYG PHYL vs USHY PHYL vs SJNK HYGV vs SPHY HFSI vs SPHY ANGL vs SPHY BHYB vs SPHY

PHYL on its own →SPHY on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →PHYL dividend history →PHYL holdings →SPHY dividend history →SPHY holdings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

PHYL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗PHYL prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗PGIM website ↗SPHY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗SPHY prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗State Street website ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, PHYL against SPHY, data as of Oct 20, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/phyl-vs-sphy

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.