Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or QUS?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +17.1% and QUS +15.2%.

Which is cheaper, QUAL or QUS?

Neither: QUAL and QUS both charge 0.15% a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do QUAL and QUS overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 97% of QUAL and 97% of QUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Compare their flows Ask IQ about these two funds

QUAL vs QUS: Differences, Returns & Fees

QUAL and QUS hold 50% of their weight in the same names, and QUAL returned +17.1% over the year. Net assets: $49.0bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF, and $1.6bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF.

Both cost 0.15% a year; their one-year returns differ by 1.9 points; QUAL is far larger, $48.8bn against $1.6bn.

Points (pts) are percentage points.

	QUAL	QUS
Expense ratio	0.15%	0.15%
Net assets, as of Oct 8, 2026	$48.8bn	$1.6bn
Total return, 1 year	+17.1%	+15.2%
What it tracks	MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index ?	MSCI USA Factor Mix A-Series Capped Index ?
Holdings in common	50%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	45.8%	23.0%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 8, 2026.

+17.1%

QUAL total return, 1 year

+15.2%

QUS total return, 1 year

0.15%

QUAL expense ratio

0.15%

QUS expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and QUS hold 50% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

50% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding QUAL QUS

MICROSOFT 7.86% 3.77%

APPLE 7.14% 3.26%

NVIDIA 6.56% 2.87%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 4.66% 2.62%

ELI LILLY 3.64% 2.21%

VISA CLASS A 3.17% 1.98%

JOHNSON & JOHNSON 2.01% 1.86%

MASTERCARD CLASS A 2.23% 1.58%

MERCK & CO INC 1.33% 1.41%

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.96% 1.32%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.54% 1.17%

APPLIED MATERIAL INC 3.04% 1.15%

Only in QUAL

S&P500 EMINI DEC 26 0.00%

Only in QUS

CISCO SYSTEMS INC 1.39%

PALANTIR TECHNOLOGIES INC A 1.10%

JPMORGAN CHASE + CO 1.02%

AMAZON.COM INC 0.99%

AMPHENOL CORP CL A 0.95%

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC 0.75%

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 0.75%

MCKESSON CORP 0.68%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

QUAL

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

QUS

State Street SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +17.1% +15.2%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 −0.2 pts −2.0 pts

Expense ratio 0.15% 0.15%

Already in the S&P 500 97.2% 96.6%

Holdings 119 514

Net assets, QUAL as of Oct 9, 2026 and QUS as of Oct 8, 2026 $49.0bn $1.6bn

QUAL and QUS on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

QUAL in plain words

QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 45.8%.

QUS in plain words

QUS tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +15.2% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 514 positions, with the top ten at 23.0%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or QUS?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +17.1% and QUS +15.2%.
Which is cheaper, QUAL or QUS?: Neither: QUAL and QUS both charge 0.15% a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do QUAL and QUS overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 97% of QUAL and 97% of QUS by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

QUAL vs VV QUAL vs SCHX QUAL vs VIG QUAL vs SPYM DIA vs QUS DYNF vs QUS CGDV vs QUS DGRW vs QUS

QUAL on its own →QUS on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

QUAL filings on SEC EDGAR ↗QUAL prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for QUAL ↗QUS filings on SEC EDGAR ↗QUS 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, QUAL against QUS, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-qus

Open data

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