Which returned more over the last year, SDY or XLI?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SDY returned +16.5% and XLI +10.2%.

Which is cheaper, SDY or XLI?

XLI is cheaper, by 0.27 percentage points a year. That is about $27 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do SDY and XLI overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 84% of SDY and 100% of XLI by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

SDY vs XLI: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, SDY returned +16.5% to XLI's +10.2%; 13% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets on Oct 27, 2026: $21.9bn for State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF and $30.8bn for State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF.

SDY on its own →XLI on its own →

At a glance

+16.5%

SDY total return, 1 year

+10.2%

XLI total return, 1 year

0.35%

SDY expense ratio

0.08%

XLI expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLI costs 0.27 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.3 points; XLI is 1.4 times larger.

SDY vs XLI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SDY	XLI
Return
Measure	SDY	XLI
Total return, 1 year	+16.5%	+10.2%
Drawdown
Measure	SDY	XLI
Below its high		9.4%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	SDY	XLI
What it tracks	S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index	Industrial Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	SDY	XLI
Expense ratio	0.35%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$21.9bn	$30.8bn
Holdings
Measure	SDY	XLI
Holdings in common	13%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	20.4%	37.8%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

Risk and return

Nov 25, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,091 weekly returns

SDY XLI

Return

Total return edge XLI +506.8% +679.7%

Annualized edge XLI +9.0% +10.3%

Price return edge XLI +188.8% +420.8%

Risk

Volatility edge SDY 17.5% 20.7%

Max drawdown edge SDY −54.4% −61.6%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge XLI (slight) 0.48 0.49

Sortino edge XLI (slight) 0.68 0.71

Calmar edge Tie 0.16 0.17

Reading

XLI returned more: +679.7% to +506.8%. SDY swung less: 17.5% to 20.7%. SDY fell less at its worst: −54.4% to −61.6%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: SDY vs XLI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	SDY	XLI	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+506.8%	+679.7%	XLI	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+9.0%	+10.3%	XLI	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+188.8%	+420.8%	XLI	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	17.5%	20.7%	SDY	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	12.3%	14.4%	SDY	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−54.4%	−61.6%	SDY	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.48	0.49	XLI (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.68	0.71	XLI (slight)	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.16	0.17	Tie	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,091 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

What they share

13%

By the books each fund has filed, SDY and XLI hold 13% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

13% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first SDY XLI

AUTOMATIC DATA PROCESSING 1.55% 2.18%

LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP 1.39% 2.37%

ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS 1.02% 1.34%

FASTENAL CO 0.96% 1.10%

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP 0.86% 1.38%

EMERSON ELECTRIC CO 0.78% 1.74%

GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP 0.72% 1.69%

WASTE MANAGEMENT INC 0.72% 1.64%

L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES INC 0.66% 0.91%

REPUBLIC SERVICES INC 0.54% 0.86%

CSX CORP 0.52% 1.81%

CINTAS CORP 0.48% 1.39%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in SDY

ACCENTURE PLC CL A 3.73%

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 2.81%

CHEVRON CORP 2.15%

REALTY INCOME CORP 1.94%

PEPSICO INC 1.82%

MEDTRONIC PLC 1.79%

TARGET CORP 1.59%

KENVUE INC 1.55%

Only in XLI

GENERAL ELECTRIC 5.79%

RTX CORP 4.91%

GE VERNOVA INC 4.47%

UNION PACIFIC CORP 3.34%

DEERE + CO 3.01%

EATON CORP PLC 2.79%

UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC 2.52%

BOEING CO 2.49%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

SDY State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF XLI State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer State Street State Street

What it is Tracks the S&P Dividend Tracks an index of Industrials

Total return, 1 year +16.5% +10.2%

Its benchmark over the same days not measured +13.6% (SPY)

Gap to its benchmark not measured −3.4 pts vs SPY

Expense ratio 0.35% 0.08%

Already in the S&P 500 84.4% 99.9%

Holdings 156 84

Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026 $21.9bn $30.8bn

SDY and XLI on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-CF4A5015FA

SDY and XLI do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. SDY follows S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index and XLI follows Industrial Select Sector Index.
Holdings in common. 13% of the weight is in the same securities (holdings dated Oct 27, 2026).
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 SDY returned +16.5% and XLI +10.2% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 6.3 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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About each fund

SDY

SDY tracks the S&P Dividend. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +16.5% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.35% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 84% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 156 positions, with the top ten at 20.4%.

XLI

XLI tracks an index of Industrials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +10.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 84 positions, with the top ten at 37.8%. It sat 9.4% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SDY or XLI?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SDY returned +16.5% and XLI +10.2%.
Which is cheaper, SDY or XLI?: XLI is cheaper, by 0.27 percentage points a year. That is about $27 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do SDY and XLI overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 84% of SDY and 100% of XLI by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

SDY vs XLC SDY vs XLF SDY vs XLP SDY vs XLB VOE vs XLI DVY vs XLI COWZ vs XLI NOBL vs XLI

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

SDY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

SDY prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

XLI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

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.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, SDY against XLI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/sdy-vs-xli

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