FHLC vs HTEC

FHLCAFidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF

HTECCROBO Global Healthcare Technology and Innovation 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.

HTEC Broad healthcare ETFs are mostly big pharma in a trench coat. HTEC goes the other way: roughly 60 global companies building the tools, from robotic surgery to gene sequencing to AI-assisted diagnostics.

Stated mandate

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

HTEC The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the ROBO Global Healthcare Technology and Innovation Index before fees and expenses. It uses a primarily passive strategy and normally invests at least 80% of assets in Index or Healthcare Technology Company securities.

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

• HTEC Theme first, pharma second. The index screens for firms drawing a real portion of business and revenue from healthcare technology, so you own tool builders, not drugmakers.sec.gov
• Roughly 60 names spread across the healthcare-tech value chain, from diagnostics to robotic surgery, so no single stock runs the show.vettafi.com
• Global by construction: the index is built as a worldwide benchmark, not a US-only one, so device and genomics firms listed abroad are in scope.vettafi.com
• Trading since 2019, so there is a real operating history behind the theme rather than a back-test and a brochure.

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.

• HTEC You pay up for the specialty: 0.68% net of a waiver through August 31, 2027 (0.80% gross), versus 0.08% for XLV and 0.09% for VHT, and above the category norm.
• A smaller, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the giant healthcare trackers and sizable orders may take patience.
• Narrow by design. Roughly 60 innovation names can swing harder than a broad healthcare index, and most big pharma simply is not in the basket.

Full FHLC profile⁠

Full HTEC profile⁠