EZM vs VO

EZMCWisdomTree U.S. MidCap Fund

VOAVanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

In short

EZM A 2007-vintage twist on mid caps: EZM's index only takes U.S. companies that actually generate earnings, then holds roughly 600 of them. Profit screen first, size second.

VO The plain middle of the US market for three basis points. VO owns roughly 300 stocks sitting between the 70th and 85th percentile of investable market cap, each at index weight, with buffer bands that slow the churn at the edges.

Stated mandate

EZM The fund seeks to track earnings-generating mid-cap companies in the U.S. equity market.

VO The fund seeks to track the CRSP US Mid Cap Index by investing in its U.S. mid-cap stocks through passive, full replication.

Why people hold it

• EZM The index screens for earnings-generating U.S. mid caps, so unprofitable names don't ride in on size alone.wisdomtree.com
• Roughly 600 holdings spread the exposure across the mid-cap field instead of leaning on a handful of names.
• Live since 2007, through the financial crisis and everything after, and it pays quarterly.
• Stays in its declared lane: U.S., equity, mid cap, tracking the published WisdomTree U.S. MidCap Index with tight fidelity to that mandate.wisdomtree.com

• VO Costs 0.03% a year against a 0.15% median for mid-cap peers, matching SCHM as the cheapest in the group and undercutting IWR by a wide margin.
• Full replication, not sampling: it holds the index's roughly 300 names at index weight, and its tracking is among the tightest in the mid-cap group.vanguard.com
• Trading since 2004 as a share class of Vanguard's Mid-Cap Index Fund, it has grown into one of the largest and most actively traded mid-cap index funds.sec.gov
• CRSP draws the mid-cap line by percentage of market cap, not a fixed stock count, with buffer zones at the edges so companies migrate gradually rather than jumping buckets.crsp.orgbogleheads.org

Worth knowing

• EZM The screen costs money: 0.38% a year against a 0.15% category median, while plain cap-weighted rivals VO and SCHM run 0.03%.
• It trades thinly next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider when you go to buy or sell.
• An earnings screen builds a different basket than a standard cap-weighted mid-cap index, so results will diverge from that benchmark in both directions.

• VO Mid caps move harder than blue chips, and Vanguard flags that: the fund sits at the top of its own 1-to-5 risk scale.vanguard.com
• One band of the market by design. No mega caps, no small caps, so it covers the middle rather than the whole US market.crsp.org
• About 300 stocks is a narrower net than a total-market fund casts, and sector weights are simply whatever the middle of the market looks like at the time.

Full EZM profile⁠

Full VO profile⁠