FHLC vs HEAL

FHLCAFidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF

HEALCGlobal X HealthTech ETF

In short

FHLC Health care, whole market. FHLC tracks an MSCI index that runs from mega-cap pharma down to small-cap biotech and device makers, roughly 400 names, for 0.08% a year.

HEAL Most health care ETFs are pharma giants in a trench coat. HEAL goes the other way: roughly 40 health technology names worldwide, tracked against Global X's own HealthTech index, in a cohort built mostly of broad sector funds.

Stated mandate

FHLC The fund seeks to track the performance of the MSCI USA IMI Health Care Index before fees and expenses.

HEAL The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Global X HealthTech Index.

Why people hold it

• FHLC Charges 0.08% a year against a 0.50% median for broad health care ETFs. Only XLV matches that sticker; VHT sits a hair above.
• The IMI index it follows reaches for about 99% of US free-float market value, so smaller biotech and device names ride along with the pharma giants.msci.com
• Mirrors its benchmark closely, one of the tighter tracking jobs among broad health care funds. Distributions come quarterly.
• Fidelity has run it since 2013, and it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund with a plain vanilla index mandate.fidelity.com

• HEAL Focused by design. Roughly 40 holdings on a global mandate, so the health technology theme actually drives returns instead of being diluted by the whole sector.
• Rules-based, not manager-driven: it tracks the Global X HealthTech Index before fees and expenses, so what you own follows a published methodology rather than someone's conviction list.
• Global reach. Health technology innovation is not a US-only story, and the mandate is worldwide rather than fenced into the S&P 500 like several of the biggest sector options.
• A standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper holding equities. No leverage, no derivatives overlay, no K-1 surprises at tax time.

Worth knowing

• FHLC One sector, one country. Drug-pricing politics, patent cliffs and FDA rulings move the whole portfolio at once.
• Free-float cap weighting means a handful of mega-cap insurers and drugmakers carry most of the weight; that long tail of small names counts for less than it looks.msci.com
• Moderately traded rather than the category's volume leader, so spreads matter more on large or hurried orders.

• HEAL The 0.50% expense ratio sits right at the cohort median, but it is several times what the broad sector anchors charge: VHT at 0.09%, XLV and FHLC at 0.08%. Focus costs money here.
• Concentration cuts both ways. With about 40 names in one theme, individual holdings move the fund far more than they would in a several-hundred-stock health care index.
• It is one of the smaller and less actively traded funds in its peer group, which typically means wider bid-ask spreads than the household-name sector ETFs.

Full FHLC profile⁠

Full HEAL profile⁠