Best value ETFs: Vanguard's 0.03% fund, unless you want Russell's list
Vanguard's 0.03% fund did not have Amazon, Apple or Microsoft in its top 10 on Sept. 30, while its Russell 1000 Value fund had 17.4% in the three.
Key takeaways
For a broad U.S. large-cap value fund, start with Vanguard Morningstar Value ETF, VTV, if you do not want Amazon, Apple or Microsoft among your largest holdings. The fee is 0.03%. It earns an A, on a grade that weighs the fee, whether the fund did what it promised, and how it behaved when markets fell.
The fund tracks the Morningstar US Large Cap Value Index. On Sept. 30, Vanguard's fact sheet did not include Amazon, Apple or Microsoft among the ten largest holdings, and the ETF held $184.2 billion.
Micron Technology was the largest holding, at 4.6%, ahead of Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase and ExxonMobil.
If you want Russell's list, which does hold those three stocks, buy Vanguard Russell 1000 Value ETF, VONV, an A, at 0.06%. On Sept. 30, its fact sheet listed Amazon and Apple at 6.1% each and Microsoft at 5.2%, together 17.4%. The ETF held $21.7 billion that day.
Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are 17.4% of VONV
- Amazon
- Apple
- Microsoft
- VTVAmazon 0.0%; Apple 0.0%; Microsoft 0.0%
- VONVAmazon 6.1%; Apple 6.1%; Microsoft 5.2%
iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF, IWD, tracks the same index and charges 0.18%. The extra 0.12 percentage points cost $12 a year on $10,000.
What these funds returned
Total returns through Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, including distributions. The 2026 column runs from Dec. 31, 2025. The 12-month column runs from Oct. 30, 2025.
VONV returned the most of these four index funds. SPYV returned 14.3%, 10.1 percentage points behind, and the least. It earns an A.
On Sept. 30, State Street's U.S. fact sheet put Apple at 8.3% of SPYV, more than the 6.1% in VONV, and Amazon at 3.9%. Microsoft was not in the top 10. The fund with more Apple had the worse return.
The fund with the most Apple returned the least
Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF, SCHV, earns an A at 0.04%. It tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Value Total Stock Market Index.
iShares S&P 500 Value ETF, IVE, charges 0.18% for the index SPYV tracks at 0.04%. The extra 0.14 percentage points cost $14 a year on $10,000.
How Apple, Microsoft and Amazon got into the value index
FTSE Russell put part of Apple and part of Microsoft into the Russell 1000 Value Index in June. Its June 26 summary said Apple's growth allocation fell from 100% to 54.2%, and Microsoft's from 100% to 50.0%. That put 45.8% of Apple, and half of Microsoft, in the value index.
The new list took effect after the close on Friday, June 26, and from the open on Monday, June 29.
Amazon was already partly in the value index. In a June 18 note that used data as of April 30, the index provider said 92% of the company was classified as value, up from 27% a year earlier. By Sept. 30, Amazon was 6.1% of VONV, tied with Apple.
The same June 26 summary moved Micron Technology from 100% value to 100% growth. On Sept. 30, Micron was still the largest holding in VTV.
An active fund held them too
Avantis U.S. Large Cap Value ETF, AVLV, does not track an index. It earns an A, and the fee is 0.15%.
Its Sept. 30 fact sheet says the fund focuses on firms trading at lower valuations with higher profitability ratios. Microsoft, Amazon and Apple were in the top five, at 3.5%, 2.9% and 2.8%, together 9.2% of the fund.
Through Oct. 30 the fund had returned 25.2% this year, against 24.4% for VONV, and 31.6% over the 12 months through that date.
S&P Dow Jones Indices, in its year-end 2025 scorecard, found that 41% of large-cap value funds underperformed the S&P 500 Value Index over the year through Dec. 31, 2025, and 88% did so over 10 years. The scorecard stops at the end of 2025.
If you do not want those three stocks among your largest holdings, buy VTV. If you want Russell's list, buy VONV.
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