GDOC vs XHS

GDOCDGoldman Sachs Future Health Care Equity ETF

XHSAState Street SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF

In short

GDOC Goldman's stock-pickers hunting the next wave of health care: genomics, precision medicine, tech-enabled procedures, digital care. About 40 names, chosen globally, versus the index giants that just own the whole sector.

XHS Most health care ETFs are pharma funds in disguise. XHS buys the delivery system instead: insurers, hospitals, distributors and clinics, roughly equal weighted so one giant insurer does not run the show.

Stated mandate

GDOC The Fund seeks long-term capital growth by investing primarily in health care companies advancing new treatments and technologies, including genomics, precision medicine, technology-enabled procedures, and digital healthcare.

XHS The fund seeks to track the total return of the S&P Health Care Services Select Industry Index before fees and expenses, providing targeted exposure to health care services companies.

Why people hold it

• GDOC Actively run around a theme, not a sector index: companies advancing new treatments and technologies across genomics, precision medicine, procedures and digital health.
• Roughly 40 holdings with a global mandate, so individual picks carry real weight and the manager can shop outside the US.
• Plain 1940 Act ETF wrapper from a major issuer, trading since 2021. No leverage, no derivatives gymnastics, no K-1.

• XHS No drugmakers, no device makers. The index tracks four slices of care delivery: distributors, facilities, health care services and managed care.ssga.com
• Modified equal weighting spreads about 60 names across large, mid and small caps, so the portfolio is not a bet on two or three mega caps.ssga.com
• 0.35% a year sits below the 0.50% median for broad health care ETFs, on a fund that has been running since 2011.
• Ranks in the top quartile of the broad health care ETFs we grade.

Worth knowing

• GDOC At 0.75% a year, it costs more than the cohort's 0.50% median and roughly eight times index staples like VHT (0.09%) and XLV (0.08%).
• A small fund that trades lightly, so spreads can run wider than the sector's household-name ETFs.
• Concentrated innovation focus means the ride can look nothing like broad health care, and payouts come annually or semiannually. Growth is the stated mission, not income.

• XHS Cheap against the median, not against the giants: XLV, VHT and FHLC charge under a tenth of a percent for cap weighted whole sector exposure.
• Thinly traded next to the big sector funds, so spreads and limit orders matter more here.
• Leaving out pharma and biotech means it moves differently from a whole sector fund, and insurers and hospitals sit close to reimbursement policy.ssga.com

Full GDOC profile⁠

Full XHS profile⁠