EMOT vs SPHQ

EMOTDFirst Trust S&P 500 Economic Moat ETF

SPHQAInvesco S&P 500 Quality ETF

In short

EMOT Moat investing, done S&P's way: EMOT narrows the S&P 500 to roughly 50 companies flagged for durable competitive advantage and holds them outright. A 2024 First Trust launch with a concentrated quality tilt.

SPHQ Live since 2005, SPHQ is an elder statesman of quality investing: rank the S&P 500 on profitability, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength, hold the top 100, charge 0.15% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028.

Stated mandate

EMOT The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Economic Moat Index. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in index securities and generally uses full replication.

SPHQ The fund seeks exposure to the S&P 500 Quality Index and normally invests at least 90% of assets in common stocks included in that index.

Why people hold it

• EMOT One job, stated plainly: hold the S&P 500 Economic Moat Index by full replication, with at least 80% of net assets in index securities.ftportfolios.com
• The moat call comes from a published index rule set, not a manager's hunch, so the quality screen it advertises is the one you actually own.ftportfolios.com
• Concentration with intent: roughly 50 stocks rather than 500, so the tilt shows up in the portfolio instead of getting diluted. Pays quarterly.

• SPHQ 0.15% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028 (0.20% gross), below the median for quality factor funds and level with QUAL and FQAL at 0.15%.
• The rules are published and mechanical: score the S&P 500 on return on equity, accruals ratio and financial leverage ratio, take the top 100, weight by quality score times market cap.spglobal.com
• Universe discipline: candidates come only from the S&P 500, so every holding is an established large cap rather than a smaller name screened in from a broader pool.spglobal.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, pays quarterly, and has run since 2005. It sits in the stronger tier of quality factor ETFs.

Worth knowing

• EMOT At 0.60% a year, the fee sits well above the typical US multifactor ETF; large-cap peers like FNDX (0.25%) and IUSG (0.04%) charge a fraction of it.
• A small, thinly traded fund, which typically means wider bid-ask spreads than the household names in this category.
• Live since 2024, so the track record is short and hasn't seen a full market cycle.

• SPHQ About 100 stocks, weighted by quality score times market cap, so the biggest high-scorers carry real weight. Narrower than owning the full S&P 500.spglobal.com
• The index rebalances semiannually, so a company whose fundamentals slip mid-period stays in the portfolio until the next reshuffle.spglobal.com
• Two peers undercut it on fee: JQUA at 0.12% and VFQY at 0.13%.

Full EMOT profile⁠

Full SPHQ profile⁠