FTGS vs ILCG: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

First Trust Growth Strength ETF

FTGSCNasdaq

iShares Morningstar Growth ETF

ILCGANYSE Arca

Overlap

17.7%by weight

Expense ratio

ILCG −0.56pt a year

FTGS0.60%ILCG0.04%

Avg volume · 30D

FTGS 1.6×the volume

FTGS115KILCG70.4K

3Y return · a year

ILCG +6.2pt

FTGS+17.8%ILCG+24.0%

FTGS vs ILCG Performance

Oct 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

+5.2%FTGS+3.2%ILCG

Expense ratio: FTGS 0.60%; ILCG 0.04%, better
Fund size: FTGS $1.27B; ILCG $3B
1Y total return: FTGS +5.2%, better; ILCG +3.2%
Yield (12M): FTGS 0.04%; ILCG 0.44%, better
Holdings: FTGS 51; ILCG 328
Avg volume (30D): FTGS 115K sh, better; ILCG 70.4K sh
NAV per share: FTGS $37.48; ILCG $109.98
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for FTGS, ILCG, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	FTGS	ILCG
Cost30% weight	F6	A96Higher
Mission25% weight	A76	A100Higher
Risk15% weight	A70Higher	C44
Tradability15% weight	D39	B64Higher
Holdings10% weight	B68Higher	C49
Durability5% weight	D38	B64Higher

Rank among US Growth Index funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. FTGS and ILCG are both graded against the same 35 US Growth Index funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Growth Index⁠

Category · 35 funds

See all 35 ›

ILCG ranks 2nd and FTGS 28th of 35 funds in the US Growth Index Category.

Rank 1ASPYGState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETFScore 84
Rank 2AILCGiShares Morningstar Growth ETFScore 78
Rank 2AIMCGiShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETFScore 78
Rank 27CBKLGBNY Mellon US Large Cap Equity Growth ETFScore 51
Rank 28CFTGSFirst Trust Growth Strength ETFScore 45
Rank 28CFYCFirst Trust Small Cap Growth AlphaDEX FundScore 45

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

FTGSCFirst Trust Growth Strength ETF

ILCGAiShares Morningstar Growth ETF

In short

FTGS Growth with a credit check. FTGS holds about 50 US names that clear screens for return on equity, long-term debt against cash, and revenue and cash flow growth. Growth that funds itself, rather than borrows for it.

ILCG Growth by Morningstar's rulebook. A 2004-vintage iShares fund that screens large and mid caps for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow and book-value growth, and charges four basis points to do it.

Stated mandate

FTGS The Fund seeks results generally corresponding to the price and yield, before fees and expenses, of The Growth StrengthTM Index. Normally, it invests at least 80% of net assets in the common stocks and REITs comprising that Index.

ILCG The fund aims to follow an index of U.S. large- and mid-cap stocks chosen for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow, and book-value growth.

Why people hold it

FTGS A quality gate wearing a growth label: return on equity, long-term debt versus cash, and revenue plus cash flow growth. Balance sheet first, story second.yahoo.com
About 50 holdings, with REITs eligible alongside common stocks. Concentrated and a little unusual for a growth fund, which is the reason to hold it next to a cap-weighted index.
The portfolio sticks to the mandate: at least 80% of net assets in the index's stocks and REITs, US large-cap growth, no drift into side bets.
Since its 2022 launch it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund and trades regularly, so ordinary-sized orders are not fighting an empty book.

ILCG 0.04% a year. The typical fund in its factor peer group charges roughly eight times that, so almost none of the return leaks out the fee door.
Uses Morningstar's growth definition (earnings, sales, cash flow, book value) rather than S&P's or Russell's, and reaches into mid caps, not just the S&P 500.ishares.com
Trading since 2004, a multi-billion-dollar fund holding roughly 300 stocks. Long-running plumbing, not a launch-week experiment.
Tracking has been tight, and the fund sits in the upper half of its factor cohort overall, with cost doing much of the heavy lifting.

Worth knowing

FTGS 0.60% a year is the entry fee, while plain-vanilla category giants like IUSG and VYM charge under a tenth of that. The screen has to earn the gap.
With roughly 50 names, single stocks and sector tilts carry real weight, so results can wander well away from broad growth benchmarks in either direction.
The live record starts in late 2022, a short history for judging how a fundamental screen behaves across different markets.

ILCG Pure growth means no value ballast, and the ride has been bumpier than most funds in its factor group. The style can sit out of favor for long stretches.
Concentration runs high for the cohort: cap-weighted growth screens funnel a big share of the fund into the same handful of mega-cap names.
Moderately traded, not a tape leader. Sibling IUSG applies S&P's growth definition at the same 0.04%, so the pick is which index rulebook you prefer.

Full FTGS profile⁠

Full ILCG profile⁠

FTGS vs ILCG Holdings

How FTGS and ILCG differ

Overlap by weight

17.7%

Shared holdings make up 79.2% of FTGS and 35.5% of ILCG.

Level by level

Holdings40 in both17.7%
Sector11 Sectors73.4%
Countryby domicile98.2%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in FTGS and ILCG, widest gap first
Sector	More in FTGSMore in ILCG	FTGS	ILCG
Technology	ILCG +18.8 points	34.7%	53.5%
Financials	FTGS +12.6 points	18.1%	5.5%
Health Care	FTGS +7.7 points	14.3%	6.5%
Communication	ILCG +5.0 points	3.5%	8.5%
Materials	FTGS +2.4 points	3.8%	1.4%
Industrials	FTGS +2.3 points	12.0%	9.7%
Consumer Discretionary	ILCG +1.9 points	7.8%	9.7%
Energy	FTGS +1.3 points	2.1%	0.8%
Utilities	ILCG +0.9 points	0.0%	0.9%
Real Estate	FTGS +0.2 points	1.8%	1.6%
Consumer Staples	FTGS +0.2 points	2.0%	1.8%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in FTGS and ILCG, widest gap first
Country	More in FTGSMore in ILCG	FTGS	ILCG
Switzerland	FTGS +1.9 points	1.9%	0.1%
United States	ILCG +1.4 points	98.0%	99.5%
Other countries (4)	ILCG +0.4 points	0.0%	0.4%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

FTGS22.1%
ILCG49.8%

Securities held

FTGS50
ILCG325

Asset class

FTGS: Equity
ILCG: Equity

Holdings

Only in FTGS10
In both40
Only in ILCG285

Only in FTGS

10 securities, 20.7% of FTGS by weight

General Dynamics Corporation2.19%
Five Below, Inc.2.19%
Delta Air Lines, Inc.2.15%
Arch Capital Group Ltd.2.13%
Intuit Inc.2.12%
Workday, Inc. (Class A)2.10%
Ralph Lauren Corporation2.06%
PayPal Holdings, Inc.2.03%
Salesforce, Inc.1.93%
Newmont Corporation1.82%

Only in ILCG

285 securities, 64.4% of ILCG by weight

Apple8.12%
Amazon.com Inc4.21%
Microsoft3.08%
Alphabet Class A3.01%
Advanced Micro Devices2.66%
Alphabet Class C2.43%
Tesla Inc2.26%
Micron Technology1.77%
Visa Class A1.14%
Ge Aerospace1.01%
Applied Material Inc1.00%
Intel Corporation0.99%
Lam Research0.97%
Palo Alto Networks0.96%
Crowdstrike Holdings Class A0.80%
Ge Vernova0.74%
Walmart0.69%
Kla0.67%
Costco Wholesale Corp0.63%
Welltower0.55%
Caterpillar Inc0.51%
Boeing0.44%
Western Digital Corp0.43%
Texas Instrument0.40%
Analog Devices0.35%
Servicenow0.35%
Oracle0.35%
Snowflake0.33%
Quanta Services Inc0.30%
Johnson Controls International PLC0.29%
Cloudflare Class A0.29%
Dell Technologies Inc Class C0.28%
Motorola Solutions Inc0.26%
Howmet Aerospace0.26%
Deere0.25%
Hilton Worldwide Holdings0.25%
Sandisk0.25%
Datadog Inc Class A0.25%
Royal Caribbean Group0.25%
Ecolab0.25%
Cintas0.24%
Lumentum Holdings0.24%
Oreilly Automotive Inc0.23%
Aon PLC Class A0.22%
Doordash Class A0.22%
Airbnb Class A0.21%
Robinhood Markets Class A0.21%
Csx0.21%
Transdigm Group0.20%
Cencora0.20%

Weight gaps

All 40 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in FTGS and ILCG, widest gap first
Holding	More in FTGSMore in ILCG	FTGS	ILCG
NVIDIA CorporationNVDA	ILCG +13.47 points	1.93%	15.40%
Broadcom Inc.AVGO	ILCG +2.91 points	2.01%	4.92%
United Therapeutics CorporationUTHR	FTGS +2.23 points	2.27%	0.04%
Blackstone Inc.BX	FTGS +2.16 points	2.25%	0.09%
Incyte CorporationINCY	FTGS +2.12 points	2.15%	0.03%
Cincinnati Financial CorporationCINF	FTGS +2.10 points	2.14%	0.04%
S&P Global Inc.SPGI	FTGS +2.06 points	2.20%	0.14%
Vertiv Holdings Co (Class A)VRT	FTGS +2.00 points	2.28%	0.28%
Expedia Group, Inc.EXPE	FTGS +1.94 points	2.00%	0.06%
Ameriprise Financial, Inc.AMP	FTGS +1.92 points	1.98%	0.06%
CBRE Group, Inc.CBRE	FTGS +1.91 points	1.96%	0.05%
Tapestry, Inc.TPR	FTGS +1.91 points	1.96%	0.05%
Stryker CorporationSYK	FTGS +1.90 points	2.00%	0.10%
ResMed Inc.RMD	FTGS +1.89 points	1.95%	0.06%
Monster Beverage CorporationMNST	FTGS +1.88 points	2.09%	0.21%
Garmin Ltd.GRMN	FTGS +1.84 points	1.94%	0.10%
Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.MPWR	FTGS +1.84 points	2.02%	0.18%
DexCom, Inc.DXCM	FTGS +1.84 points	1.94%	0.10%
Baker Hughes Company (Class A)BKR	FTGS +1.83 points	2.01%	0.18%
Moody's CorporationMCO	FTGS +1.82 points	2.06%	0.24%
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.CDNS	FTGS +1.79 points	2.08%	0.29%
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (Class A)IBKR	FTGS +1.77 points	1.88%	0.11%
Uber Technologies, Inc.UBER	FTGS +1.77 points	1.88%	0.11%
Cummins Inc.CMI	FTGS +1.68 points	1.90%	0.22%
Trane Technologies plcTT	FTGS +1.66 points	1.81%	0.15%
Comfort Systems USA, Inc.FIX	FTGS +1.59 points	1.73%	0.14%
Corning IncorporatedGLW	FTGS +1.57 points	1.89%	0.32%
Seagate Technology Holdings PlcSTX	FTGS +1.57 points	2.04%	0.47%
Intuitive Surgical, Inc.ISRG	FTGS +1.56 points	2.05%	0.49%
Applovin Corp. (Class A)APP	FTGS +1.54 points	1.74%	0.20%
Freeport-McMoRan Inc.FCX	FTGS +1.53 points	1.82%	0.29%
Amphenol CorporationAPH	FTGS +1.39 points	2.02%	0.63%
Eli Lilly and CompanyLLY	ILCG +1.38 points	2.28%	3.66%
Arista Networks, Inc.ANET	FTGS +1.37 points	1.93%	0.56%
Fortinet, Inc.FTNT	FTGS +1.36 points	1.63%	0.27%
Marvell Technology, Inc.MRVL	FTGS +1.19 points	1.74%	0.55%
Mastercard IncorporatedMA	FTGS +1.15 points	2.09%	0.94%
Netflix, Inc.NFLX	FTGS +0.94 points	1.78%	0.84%
Palantir Technologies Inc. (Class A)PLTR	FTGS +0.68 points	2.00%	1.32%
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Class A)META	FTGS +0.16 points	1.75%	1.59%

All 50 FTGS holdings⁠All 325 ILCG holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

FTGS vs ILCG Cost

Overpaying FTGS vs ILCG

$10,968

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

FTGS 0.60%
$11,817
ILCG 0.04%
$849

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

FTGS 0.60%
ILCG 0.04%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	FTGS	ILCG	Overpaying
10	$1,076	$73	$1,003
20	$4,116	$288	$3,828
30	$11,817	$849	$10,968

Expense ratio

0.60%FTGS
0.04%ILCG, cheaper

ILCG0.04%FTGS0.60%

0.03%0.70%

Middle half of US Growth Index funds
Median 0.18%

ILCG 2nd cheapest of 35 funds

FTGS 32nd cheapest of 35 funds

FTGS vs ILCG Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): FTGS 0.04%; ILCG 0.44%, better
Payout (12M): FTGS $0.01; ILCG $0.48
Last payment: FTGS $0.0088; ILCG $0.14
Ex-dividend: FTGS Sep 24, 2026; ILCG Sep 15, 2026
Paid on: FTGS Sep 30, 2026; ILCG Sep 18, 2026
Frequency: FTGS Twice a year; ILCG Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

FTGSTwice a year · 14 paymentsAll FTGS payments⁠

ILCGQuarterly · 40 paymentsAll ILCG payments⁠

FTGS vs ILCG Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: FTGS 13.8%, betterILCG 17.8%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: FTGS 0.94ILCG 1.06, better
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: FTGS −20.0%since Oct 2022ILCG −35.4%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: FTGS 1.02ILCG 1.23; Market = 1

FTGS and ILCG in the news

All news⁠

Best ETFs
The best growth ETF is the cheap one on the index you want
Updated Nov 2, 2026ILCG

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FTGS vs ILCG

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it

Worth knowing

How FTGS and ILCG differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTGS

Only in ILCG

Weight gaps

Cost over time

Year by year

Distribution history

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

The best growth ETF is the cheap one on the index you want

How FTGS and ILCG differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in FTGS

Only in ILCG

Weight gaps