Get the weekly note
ETFIQetfiq.com · independent ETF data

Data as of .

DUTY vs MISL: which is really different?

DUTY and MISL hold 37% of their weight in the same names.

U.S. Defense ETF and First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF.

61.8%DUTY in the S&P 500
62.4%MISL in the S&P 500
+6.9%DUTY total return, 1 year
+6.4%MISL total return, 1 year

ETFIQ Off-Index Score: DUTY scores higher

How much of it is not the index it is sold as an alternative to?

DUTY 51.7MISL 43.30.1, the lowest in this set91.8, the highest

A percentile among the 379 thematic ETFs with a holdings filing. It is a position in a set, not a rating, and neither end of it is a recommendation. All thematic ETFs ranked by it · How it is computed

DUTY38% of its weight is outside the S&P 500 · 3 months to Sep 18, 2026
62%38%of its weight in S&P 500 companiesof its weight outside the S&P 500active share 98% · top ten 59% of the fund · 50 holdings filed Jun 30, 2026 · Nasdaq-100: 24% in62%38%in the S&P 500outsideactive share 98% · top ten 59% of the fund
MISL38% of its weight is outside the S&P 500 · 1 year to Sep 18, 2026
62%38%of its weight in S&P 500 companiesof its weight outside the S&P 500active share 98% · top ten 63% of the fund · 40 holdings filed Sep 18, 2026 · Nasdaq-100: 12% in62%38%in the S&P 500outsideactive share 98% · top ten 63% of the fund

37% of the two portfolios are the same securities at the same weight.

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DUTY and MISL hold 37% of their money in the same securities at the same weight.

Positions DUTY and MISL both hold, largest shared weight first
HoldingDUTYMISL
Palantir Technologies Inc5.98%11.75%
Lockheed Martin Corp7.34%4.27%
Northrop Grumman Corp6.62%4.10%
General Dynamics Corp7.57%3.95%
L3Harris Technologies Inc6.85%3.57%
Rocket Lab Corp5.35%3.34%
Leidos Holdings Inc2.74%1.81%
CACI International Inc2.28%1.56%
Moog Inc2.54%1.31%
Huntington Ingalls Industries2.45%1.21%
Kratos Defense & Security Solu2.06%1.00%
AeroVironment Inc1.04%0.91%
Only in each
Only in DUTYOnly in MISL
Palo Alto Networks Inc 5.21%Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Class A) 8.81%
Fortinet Inc 4.92%RTX Corporation 8.30%
Crowdstrike Holdings Inc 4.64%The Boeing Company 7.48%
Okta Inc 4.62%GE Aerospace 7.34%
Teledyne Technologies Inc 4.35%HEICO Corporation 3.56%
Akamai Technologies Inc 3.15%Howmet Aerospace Inc. 3.56%
Check Point Software Technolog 2.89%TransDigm Group Incorporated 3.53%
Zscaler Inc 2.71%AST SpaceMobile, Inc. 2.56%

Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jun 30, 2026 and Sep 18, 2026.

Performance, window by window

DUTY and MISL over each window. Every figure is an ETFIQ calculation with distributions reinvested. Source: ETFIQ.
WindowTotal returnvs the S&P 500vs the Nasdaq-100
DUTYMISLDUTYMISLDUTYMISL
3 months+5.7%−8.7%+3.5 pts−10.9 pts+8.2 pts−6.2 pts
6 monthsnot published−7.5%not published−25.5 ptsnot published−31.7 pts
1 yearnot published+6.4%not published−10.2 ptsnot published−15.4 pts
3 yearsnot published+93.1%not published+14.7 ptsnot published−5.1 pts
Since launch+6.9%+109.5%−6.3 pts−0.6 pts−12.3 pts−56.0 pts
Open the live comparison on ETFIQ
DUTY and MISL on the same fields, as of Sep 18, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
DUTY
U.S. Defense ETF
Holds 50 stocks in defense, 62% of its weight in S&P 500 companies
MISL
First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF
Holds 40 stocks in defense, 62% of its weight in S&P 500 companies
IssuerAuraFirst Trust
ThemeDefenseDefense
In the S&P 50061.8%62.4%
Active share vs the S&P 50098.1%97.5%
In the Nasdaq-10023.5%11.8%
Holdings5040
Top ten, share of the fund59.1%63.1%
Expense ratio0.45%0.60%
Fee for the differing part0.46%0.62%
Total return, 1 year+6.9% (since launch on Apr 8, 2026)+6.4%
vs the S&P 500−6.3 pts−10.2 pts
vs the Nasdaq-100−12.3 pts−15.4 pts
Below its high−9.2%−16.9%
Net assets$2m$704m

DUTY in plain words

By weight, 62% of DUTY's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 98%. The top ten holdings are 59% of the fund across 50 positions, as filed for Jun 30, 2026. Since it launched on Apr 8, 2026 the fund returned +6.9% with distributions reinvested against +13.2% for the S&P 500, so a holder was behind by 6.3 pts. It sits 9.2% below its all-time high of Aug 13, 2026.

MISL in plain words

By weight, 62% of MISL's portfolio is stocks that are also in the S&P 500; its active share against the S&P 500 is 98%. The top ten holdings are 63% of the fund across 40 positions, as published by its issuer for Sep 18, 2026. Over the year to Sep 18, 2026 the fund returned +6.4% with distributions reinvested against +16.6% for the S&P 500, so a holder was behind by 10.2 pts. It sits 16.9% below its all-time high of Jan 16, 2026.

Questions people ask

Do DUTY and MISL hold the same stocks?
By their latest filings, 37% of their books are the same securities at the same weight, which is a meaningful overlap. Overlap is the sum of the smaller weight of every security they share.
Which is more different from the S&P 500, DUTY or MISL?
DUTY has 62% of its weight in S&P 500 names and MISL has 62%, so DUTY differs more from the index.
Which is cheaper, DUTY or MISL?
DUTY charges 0.45% a year and MISL charges 0.60%, so DUTY is cheaper. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

Where these figures came from

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure. It is not affiliated with any issuer, and a link is not an endorsement.

DUTY against MISL, ETFIQ, data as of Sep 18, 2026. Every figure is calculated from a named public source; the method is at etfiq.com/methodology. A comparison is not a recommendation.

Cite this page. ETFIQ, DUTY against MISL, data as of Sep 18, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/themes/duty-vs-misl Free to use with attribution; the underlying files are at Open data.

How every figure is computed · Standards and sources