Which returned more over the last year, VO or XLB?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VO returned +12.8% and XLB +18.5%.

Which is cheaper, VO or XLB?

VO is cheaper, by 0.05 percentage points a year. That is about $5 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do VO and XLB overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 91% of VO and 100% of XLB by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

VO vs XLB: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, VO returned +12.8% to XLB's +18.5%; 4% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $103.4bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF, and $8.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF.

VO on its own →XLB on its own →

At a glance

+12.8%

VO total return, 1 year

+18.5%

XLB total return, 1 year

0.03%

VO expense ratio

0.08%

XLB expense ratio

Pair scorecard

VO costs 0.05 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.7 points; VO is 13.3 times larger.

VO vs XLB: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	VO	XLB
Return
Measure	VO	XLB
Total return, 1 year	+12.8%	+18.5%
Drawdown
Measure	VO	XLB
Below its high	3.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	VO	XLB
What it tracks	Morningstar US Mid Cap Index (formerly CRSP US Mid Cap Index)	Materials Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	VO	XLB
Expense ratio	0.03%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Sep 30, 2026	$103.4bn	$7.8bn
Holdings
Measure	VO	XLB
Holdings in common	4%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	9.7%	58.5%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, VO and XLB hold 4% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Sep 30, 2026 and Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

4% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first VO XLB

Air Products and Chemicals Inc 0.61% 4.84%

Newmont Corp 0.60% 6.56%

CRH PLC 0.54% 4.47%

Nucor Corp 0.52% 4.89%

Vulcan Materials Co 0.31% 4.89%

Martin Marietta Materials Inc 0.29% 4.62%

PPG Industries Inc 0.23% 3.85%

Packaging Corp of America 0.20% 3.42%

Steel Dynamics Inc 0.15% 4.77%

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc 0.10% 3.63%

Dow Inc 0.10% 3.73%

International Paper Co 0.09% 2.70%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in VO

Cloudflare Inc 1.11%

Valero Energy Corp 1.10%

Marathon Petroleum Corp 1.10%

Phillips 66 1.01%

Quanta Services Inc 0.95%

Vertiv Holdings Co 0.92%

Datadog Inc 0.91%

Howmet Aerospace Inc 0.89%

Only in XLB

LINDE PLC 12.96%

FREEPORT MCMORAN INC 5.23%

ECOLAB INC 4.98%

SHERWIN WILLIAMS CO 4.73%

SMURFIT WESTROCK PLC 3.41%

AMCOR PLC 3.24%

CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS INC 2.79%

BALL CORP 2.59%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

VO Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF XLB State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Vanguard State Street

What it is Tracks an index of Mid-Cap Tracks an index of Materials

Total return, 1 year +12.8% +18.5%

Expense ratio 0.03% 0.08%

Already in the S&P 500 91.1% 99.8%

Holdings 273 25

Net assets, VO as of Sep 30, 2026 and XLB as of Oct 27, 2026 $103.4bn $8.1bn

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

Alert

About each fund

VO tracks an index of Mid-Cap. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +12.8% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.03% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 91% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 273 positions, with the top ten at 9.7%. It sat 3.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

XLB

XLB tracks an index of Materials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +18.5% with distributions reinvested. 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 25 positions, with the top ten at 58.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, VO or XLB?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, VO returned +12.8% and XLB +18.5%.
Which is cheaper, VO or XLB?: VO is cheaper, by 0.05 percentage points a year. That is about $5 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do VO and XLB overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 91% of VO and 100% of XLB by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

VO vs XHB VO vs XLV VO vs XLF VO vs XLRE IJH vs XLB VXF vs XLB MDY vs XLB MOAT vs XLB

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

VO filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

VO prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

Vanguard page for VO ↗

XLB filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLB prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

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, VO against XLB, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/vo-vs-xlb

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