---
title: "Polen Focus Growth ETF lags the Russell 1000 Growth in its first year"
url: "https://etf.net/news/polen-focus-growth-etf-lags-the-russell-1000-growth-in-its-first-year-2026-09-30"
published_at: "2026-09-30T14:49:53.167Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-30T14:49:53.167Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# Polen Focus Growth ETF lags the Russell 1000 Growth in its first year

From its September 30, 2025 close through September 29, 2026, the share price of Polen Focus Growth ETF fell 9.0%, while the iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF rose 7.0%.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 30, 2026.

Polen Focus Growth ETF PCLG, a short list of large growth companies, turns one year old today behind the Russell 1000 Growth stocks it uses as its measure.

From the close on Tuesday, September 30, 2025, to the close on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the share price fell **9.0%**, from $25.03 to $22.77. Those are market prices, not the fund's official return.

IWF, a fund that holds the large and midsize U.S. growth stocks in the Russell 1000 Growth Index, rose 7.0% over the same closes. The gap is 16 percentage points. SPY, a fund that holds the S&P 500, rose 14.7%.

The shortfall did not start with this fund. In March, Morningstar reported that the institutional shares of the Polen Growth mutual fund, which follows the same Focus Growth approach, had trailed the Russell 1000 Growth for six straight calendar years. Those shares sat in the bottom tenth of large-growth peers over one, three, five and ten years through February.

In the year through Tuesday, June 30, 2026, that mutual fund was down 10.45%. The Russell 1000 Growth Index was up 17.71%.

In its second-quarter commentary, Polen said the strategy "didn't own enough of what the market most aggressively rewarded." It blamed a narrow rally in AI infrastructure, and said semiconductors were roughly a third of the index, about four to five times their weight a few years earlier.

The fund's own report, for the period ended Thursday, April 30, 2026, already had the gap. It was down 11.23% from its start, and the Russell 1000 Growth Index was up 2.09%. Stock selection in information technology was the main drag, the report said, "largely stemming from Software exposures."

Oracle, ServiceNow and CoStar Group hurt most against the index. Health care hurt as well, the report said. Not owning Tesla helped. Starbucks and Microsoft, which the fund held, helped too.

The list is still short. The fund holds 28 stocks, and the ten largest account for 62% of it, led by Microsoft, Nvidia and ServiceNow.

Chart: Light **Nvidia**, heavy ServiceNow and Oracle

ServiceNow and Oracle, two of the names that hurt most in that first report, are still among the ten largest holdings. In the second quarter, Polen said, the strategy sold Accenture and Synopsys and bought Taiwan Semiconductor, which the fund now holds. Lam Research was the strategy's best holding in the quarter, Polen said.

## It began with securities, not cash

The day before trading began, investors put in securities worth $109.4 million, not cash. About $45.2 million of that was gain on stock they had not sold. Polen has described the launch as a Section 351 exchange, a way to move appreciated stock into a new fund and delay the tax on that gain.

Through Thursday, April 30, 2026, after the opening contribution, share sales and redemptions were a net outflow of $42.3 million. As of Monday, September 28, 2026, Polen Capital showed net assets of $89.0 million. The drop from $109.4 million mixes market losses with money that left.

Through April 30, the fund realized $26.6 million of gains by handing securities to investors who left, rather than selling them for cash. It says those gains will not be taxed inside the fund. Shareholders have been paid once, $0.00858 a share. A first year with almost no cash payout does not say what later years will bring.

A year cannot show whether these businesses will deliver the above-average earnings growth Polen Capital says it wants. Whether a new fund changes a lag that long is still open.

Source: etf.net, https://etf.net/news/polen-focus-growth-etf-lags-the-russell-1000-growth-in-its-first-year-2026-09-30. Please cite the page URL.