Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
QUAL vs VDC: Differences, Returns & Fees
Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, QUAL returned +13.1% to VDC's +12.7%; 5% of their weight is in the same names.
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Net assets: $48.2bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF, and $7.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF.
Pair scorecard
VDC costs 0.06 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.4 points; QUAL is 6.4 times larger.
| Measure | QUAL | VDC |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +13.1% | +12.7% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 3.1%, high on Oct 22, 2026 | |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index | MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50 |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.15% | 0.09% |
| Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026 | $47.7bn | $7.4bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | 5% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 44.5% | 66.0% |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method
Risk and return
Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026 · 691 weekly returnsEach against its own benchmark: QUAL against MLRG, Jul 26, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026; VDC against FSTA, Nov 1, 2013 to Oct 23, 2026.
QUAL returned more: +444.7% to +211.5%. VDC swung less: 13.5% to 16.2%. VDC fell less at its worst: −22.9% to −31.4%.
Full scorecard
19 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | QUAL | VDC | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | +444.7% | +211.5% | QUAL | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | +13.6% | +8.9% | QUAL | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | +346.8% | +123.5% | QUAL | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 16.2% | 13.5% | VDC | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 11.2% | 9.7% | VDC | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −31.4% | −22.9% | VDC | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Upside capture | 98.8% | 99.4% | Share of its benchmark's rise caught in the weeks it rose. | |
| Downside capture | 98.8% | 99.6% | Share of its benchmark's fall taken in the weeks it fell. Lower is better. | |
| Beta | 0.97 | 1.00 | Not an edge | How far it moves for each 1% its benchmark moves. |
| R squared | 0.95 | 1.00 | Not an edge | Share of its weekly moves its benchmark explains. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.75 | 0.56 | QUAL | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 1.09 | 0.78 | QUAL | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Treynor | 0.126 | 0.075 | Return above Treasury bills per unit of beta. | |
| Calmar | 0.43 | 0.39 | QUAL | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
| Against the benchmark | ||||
| Benchmark | MLRG | FSTA | The ETF each fund is measured against. | |
| Alpha | +0.6% a year | +0.1% a year | Not significant | Yearly return beyond what its beta to the benchmark predicts. |
| Alpha t-stat | 0.59 | 0.27 | Not an edge | How sure the alpha is. Below 2, it could be chance. |
| Alpha range | −1.4% to +2.6% | −0.3% to +0.4% | Includes zero | The 95% range for the yearly alpha. |
| Information ratio | 0.06 | 0.04 | Return against its benchmark per unit of tracking error. | |
| Tracking error | 3.7% | 0.7% | Not an edge | How far weekly returns stray from the benchmark, annualized. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 691 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
What they share
By the books each fund has filed, QUAL and VDC hold 5% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.
half
5% in common
Only in one fund ↓
Side by side
QUAL and VDC on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
QUAL and VDC do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. QUAL follows MSCI USA Sector Neutral Quality Index and VDC follows MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50.
- Holdings in common. 5% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026 and Sep 30, 2026).
- Size. QUAL has $47.7bn in net assets and VDC $7.4bn (net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026); QUAL is 6.4 times larger.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
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QUAL
QUAL tracks the MSCI USA Quality Factor. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.1% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the MSCI USA Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.15% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 97% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 119 positions, with the top ten at 44.5%.
VDC
VDC tracks an index of Consumer Staples. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.7% with distributions reinvested, against +12.7% for its benchmark, the MSCI US Investable Market Index (IMI)/Consumer Staples 25/50. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.09% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 105 positions, with the top ten at 66.0%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Oct 22, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, QUAL or VDC?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, QUAL returned +13.1% and VDC +12.7%.
- Which is cheaper, QUAL or VDC?
- VDC is cheaper, by 0.06 percentage points a year. That is about $6 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. 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.
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ETFIQ, QUAL against VDC, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-vdc
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). QUAL against VDC. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-vdc
[QUAL against VDC (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/qual-vs-vdc)
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