GPRF vs PFFV

GPRFBGoldman Sachs Access U.S. Preferred Stock and Hybrid Securities ETF

PFFVBGlobal X Variable Rate Preferred ETF

In short

GPRF Goldman's 2024 entry into preferred stock: roughly 400 U.S. preferreds and hybrids, the slice of the market that sits between bonds and common shares, bundled at 0.45% a year and paid out monthly.

PFFV Most preferred funds hand you a fixed coupon and a lot of rate sensitivity. PFFV screens for variable-rate preferreds only, so coupons reset off short-term benchmarks instead of standing still, at 0.25% a year with monthly payouts.

Stated mandate

GPRF Invests primarily in U.S. preferred stocks and hybrid securities.

PFFV The fund seeks to provide investment results generally corresponding to the price and yield performance of the ICE U.S. Variable Rate Preferred Securities Index before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• GPRF At 0.45% a year it sits at the cheap end of the preferred aisle, matching State Street's PSK and running well under actively run options like FPE at 0.83%.
• Roughly 400 positions spread the credit exposure across many issuers rather than a handful of big deals, and the portfolio build is a strength versus preferred-fund peers.
• Income lands monthly, not quarterly, which is the cadence most preferred-stock buyers are actually after.
• A rules-based index basket of U.S. preferreds and hybrids: one ticket instead of hunting individual bank and utility issues on a thin over-the-counter desk.gsam.com

• PFFV Costs 0.25% a year, about half the typical preferred ETF fee and a fraction of what an actively run peer like FPE charges (0.83%).
• The whole point: an index of variable-rate preferreds, whose coupons reset off short-term benchmarks rather than locking in for the life of the security.
• Passive and plain-vanilla. Roughly 60 US preferred issues picked by published index rules, with income paid out monthly.
• Stacks up as one of the stronger builds in a crowded preferred-ETF field, mostly on cost and a clean, rules-based mandate.

Worth knowing

• GPRF Still a small fund and lightly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and limit orders matter more, especially around the open and close.
• Launched in 2024, so it carries a shorter live record than the decade-plus incumbents in preferreds.
• Preferreds are treated as fixed income here: prices move on interest rates and issuer credit, so this is an income sleeve rather than an equity growth holding.

• PFFV Preferred issuance skews to banks and insurers, so this is concentrated financials credit in bond clothing, spread across only about 60 positions.
• Resets cut both ways. The same floating mechanism that lifts coupons when short-term rates climb also drags them down when rates fall.
• Moderately traded and mid-sized rather than a heavyweight, so bid-ask spreads matter more here than in the largest preferred funds.

Full GPRF profile⁠

Full PFFV profile⁠