Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
PMSE vs VOO: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, PMSE returned +5.4% to VOO's +13.7%, and VOO charges 0.03% to PMSE's 0.50%.
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Net assets: $7.5m on Oct 28, 2026 for PGIM S&P 500 Max Buffer ETF - September, and $1.0tn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard S&P 500 ETF.
Pair scorecard
VOO costs 0.47 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 8.3 points.
| Measure | PMSE | VOO |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +5.4% | +13.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Index fall to the buffer | 0.7% | |
| Fund price fall to the buffer | 1.1% | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | SPY | S&P 500 Index |
| The outcome period | ||
| Room to the cap | 7.1% | |
| Buffer left, in index points | 100.0% of 100.0% | |
| Days left in the period | 307 | |
| Period ends | Aug 31, 2027 | |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.50% | 0.03% |
| Net assets, PMSE as of Oct 28, 2026 and VOO as of Sep 30, 2026 | $7.5m | $1.0tn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 39.1% | |
Risk and return
Sep 12, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026 · 58 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: PMSE against SPY, Sep 12, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026; VOO against IVV, Sep 17, 2010 to Oct 23, 2026.
VOO returned more: +17.2% to +6.1%. PMSE swung less: 2.0% to 11.9%. PMSE fell less at its worst: −1.3% to −8.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | PMSE | VOO | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +6.1% | +17.2% | VOO | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +5.5% | +15.3% | VOO | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +6.1% | +15.6% | VOO | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 2.0% | 11.9% | PMSE | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 1.2% | 7.1% | PMSE | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −1.3% | −8.4% | PMSE | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 14.3% | 99.8% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 13.2% | 99.9% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.15 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.82 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.79 | 0.94 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.30 | 1.58 | VOO | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.104 | 0.134 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 4.38 | 1.83 | PMSE | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | SPY | IVV | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | −0.1% a year | 0.0% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | −0.13 | 0.51 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.7% to +1.5% | −0.1% to +0.2% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | −0.94 | 0.02 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 10.2% | 0.4% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 58 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
PMSE and VOO on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
PMSE and VOO do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. PMSE follows SPY and VOO follows S&P 500 Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 PMSE returned +5.4% and VOO +13.7% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 8.3 points.
- Cost. PMSE charges 0.50% of assets a year and VOO 0.03%, a gap of 0.47 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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PMSE
From its price on Oct 28, 2026, the fund can gain about 7.1% more before it reaches its cap. The fund's price can fall 1.1% from here before the buffer starts absorbing losses, by the issuer's number. In index terms, SPY can fall 0.7% from today's level to the point where the buffer begins. Protection left, in index points: 100.0% of the 100.0% buffer still sits below today's SPY level. 307 days remained on Oct 28, 2026. On Aug 31, 2027 the period ends and a new cap is set.
VOO
VOO tracks the S&P 500. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +13.7% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 507 positions, with the top ten at 39.1%.
Questions people ask
- Are PMSE and VOO in the same category?
- PMSE is a buffer ETF and VOO is a stock ETF, so they do different jobs. The table compares what both publish: return, cost and holdings.
- Which returned more over the last year, PMSE or VOO?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, PMSE returned +5.4% and VOO +13.7%.
- Which is cheaper, PMSE or VOO?
- VOO is cheaper, by 0.47 percentage points a year. That is about $47 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
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ETFIQ, PMSE against VOO, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pmse-vs-voo
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). PMSE against VOO. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pmse-vs-voo
[PMSE against VOO (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/pmse-vs-voo)
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