Which returned more over the last year, SPEM or VWO?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPEM returned +13.7% and VWO +12.1%.

Which is cheaper, SPEM or VWO?

VWO is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do SPEM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of SPEM and 0% of VWO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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SPEM vs VWO: Differences, Returns & Fees

SPEM and VWO hold 71% of their weight in the same names, and SPEM returned +13.7% over the year. Net assets: $17.5bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF, and $125.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF.

VWO costs 0.01 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 1.6 points; VWO is 7.2 times larger.

	SPEM	VWO
Expense ratio	0.07%	0.06%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$17.5bn	$125.4bn
Total return, 1 year	+13.7%	+12.1%
What it tracks	S&P Emerging BMI Index ?	FTSE Emerging Markets All Cap China A Inclusion Index
Holdings in common	71%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	26.5%	28.9%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+13.7%

SPEM total return, 1 year

+12.1%

VWO total return, 1 year

0.07%

SPEM expense ratio

0.06%

VWO expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, SPEM and VWO hold 71% 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 Aug 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

71% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding SPEM VWO

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFAC 15.00% 14.73%

TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD 2.58% 2.90%

ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD 2.02% 2.19%

MEDIATEK INC 1.88% 1.47%

DELTA ELECTRONICS INC 1.03% 0.90%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK H 0.96% 0.86%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY 0.87% 0.78%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.70% 0.68%

IND + COMM BK OF CHINA H 0.55% 0.62%

ASE TECHNOLOGY HOLDING CO LT 0.77% 0.49%

PDD HOLDINGS INC 0.47% 0.52%

BHARTI AIRTEL LTD 0.50% 0.47%

Only in SPEM

RELIANCE INDS SPONS GDR 144A 0.69%

ICICI BANK LTD SPON ADR 0.68%

NU HOLDINGS LTD/CAYMAN ISL A 0.45%

PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SPON ADR 0.36%

VALE SA SP ADR 0.34%

INFOSYS LTD SP ADR 0.33%

LENOVO GROUP LTD 0.29%

PKO BANK POLSKI SA 0.26%

Only in VWO

SLCMT1142 3.18%

MKTLIQ 1.21%

Reliance Industries Ltd 0.73%

Anglogold Ashanti Plc 0.46%

Infosys Ltd 0.33%

United Microelectronics Corp 0.32%

PETROBRAS - PETROLEO BRAS-PR 0.31%

Petroleo Brasileiro SA - Petrobras 0.29%

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On the same fields

SPEM

State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF

VWO

Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer State Street Vanguard

What it is Tracks an index Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +13.7% +12.1%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 −3.6 pts −5.1 pts

Expense ratio 0.07% 0.06%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 2746 6356

Net assets, SPEM as of Oct 8, 2026 and VWO as of Sep 30, 2026 $17.5bn $125.4bn

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

SPEM in plain words

SPEM tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,746 positions, with the top ten at 26.5%.

VWO in plain words

VWO tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +12.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.06% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Aug 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 6,356 positions, with the top ten at 28.9%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, SPEM or VWO?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, SPEM returned +13.7% and VWO +12.1%.
Which is cheaper, SPEM or VWO?: VWO is cheaper, by 0.01 percentage points a year. That is about $1 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do SPEM and VWO overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of SPEM and 0% of VWO by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

IEMG vs SPEM EEM vs SPEM AVEM vs SPEM EMXC vs SPEM EMXC vs VWO AVEM vs VWO EEM vs VWO DFAE vs VWO

SPEM on its own →VWO on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

SPEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗SPEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗State Street website ↗VWO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗VWO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Vanguard page for VWO ↗

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, SPEM against VWO, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/spem-vs-vwo

Open data

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