GTEK vs VGT

GTEKDGoldman Sachs Future Tech Leaders Equity ETF

VGTAVanguard Information Technology ETF

In short

GTEK Most tech funds are a bet on the same handful of giants. GTEK does the opposite: Goldman's stock pickers hunt tech companies worth under $100 billion, anywhere in the world, in a portfolio of roughly 60 names.

VGT Vanguard's technology sleeve, indexed since 2004: roughly 300 US tech stocks running from megacap giants down to small caps, for 0.09% a year. Broad coverage of the sector rather than just its household names.

Stated mandate

GTEK The fund is an actively managed, fully transparent ETF seeking exposure to Goldman Sachs's highest-conviction technology ideas. It invests globally in companies below $100 billion in market capitalization, including mid- and small-cap stocks.

VGT The fund seeks to track an index measuring the investment return of information technology stocks. It uses an indexing approach for large-, mid-, and small-capitalization U.S. technology companies and normally invests at least 80% of assets in target-index stocks.

Why people hold it

• GTEK The size cap is the point: it buys tech companies below $100 billion in market value, so the mega-caps that anchor most tech funds are excluded by design.gsam.com
• It fishes globally across developed and emerging markets, so the shortlist reaches chipmakers and software names listed well outside the US.
• Actively managed and fully transparent, holding about 60 stocks. You see what Goldman's analysts actually picked rather than an index screen's output.

• VGT Casts a wide net: about 300 US technology stocks across large, mid and small caps, not just the megacap names everyone already knows.vanguard.com
• Charges 0.09% a year, roughly a quarter of what the typical technology sector ETF asks.
• One of the largest and most actively traded sector funds around, and it has followed its index closely.
• Running since 2004 and among the strongest implementations in its technology peer group. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• GTEK At 0.75% a year, it charges more than the typical global active equity fund, and well above rules-based peers such as GSWO at 0.15%.
• It trades thinly next to the big tech funds, so bid-ask gaps can run wider, particularly around the open and close.
• Sub-$100B, one sector, roughly 60 holdings: a concentrated slice of the market, and it has not been run as an income payer.

• VGT Weighted by market value, so the biggest platform companies drive most of the return. The small caps are along for the ride.
• One sector, one country: US technology only, which means bigger swings than a total market fund.
• If the last basis point matters, XLK and FTEC list at 0.08%.

Full GTEK profile⁠

Full VGT profile⁠