FTCE vs SPHQ

FTCECFirst Trust New Constructs Core Earnings Leaders ETF

SPHQAInvesco S&P 500 Quality ETF

In short

FTCE Quality investing with a forensic-accounting accent. FTCE tracks a Bloomberg index built on New Constructs core earnings work, holding about 100 US companies. A 2024 launch that charges 0.60% in a category full of cheaper giants.

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

FTCE The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the Bloomberg New Constructs Core Earnings Leaders Index before fees and expenses.

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

• FTCE A screen no other fund in the US quality group runs: the Bloomberg New Constructs Core Earnings Leaders Index, profitability-driven and rules-based rather than a repackaged cap-weighted quality score.ftportfolios.com
• The mandate is plain on the tin: US stocks, quality and profitability screens, index tracking, no manager improvising between rebalances.ftportfolios.com
• Concentrated by design: roughly 100 names, tight enough for the screen to show up in results. Distributions come 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

• FTCE The fee is the headline trade-off: 0.60% a year, against a category median near 0.29% and the big quality names at 0.12% (JQUA) or 0.15% (QUAL).
• Thinly traded compared with the household-name quality funds, so spreads can be wider and large orders take more care at the open and close.
• Launched in 2024, so the record is short. There is not yet a full market cycle showing how the core earnings screen behaves when leadership shifts.

• 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 FTCE profile⁠

Full SPHQ profile⁠