HRTS vs XLV

HRTSDTema Heart & Health ETF

XLVAState Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

HRTS Broad health care funds own insurers, hospitals and dental supply. HRTS narrows to one battlefield: heart and metabolic disease, with at least 80% of assets in companies earning half their revenue there.

XLV Live since 1998, XLV is the original way to own health care: about 60 S&P 500 names, a 0.08% fee, and one of the busiest tickers in the sector. Big pharma and device makers, not small-cap biotech.

Stated mandate

HRTS The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital and invests at least 80% of its assets in publicly listed companies deriving at least half of their revenue from cardiovascular- or metabolic-disease treatments.

XLV The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Health Care Select Sector Index, which represents the health care sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Why people hold it

• HRTS Written into the prospectus: at least 80% of assets in companies drawing half or more of their revenue from cardiovascular or metabolic disease treatment. Theme drift has a floor.
• About 50 stocks picked by a manager rather than copied from an index, so the portfolio can follow the science instead of waiting on a benchmark reconstitution.
• Nothing exotic under the hood: a plain 1940 Act fund holding listed stocks. No leverage sleeve, no derivatives wrapper to decode.

• XLV 0.08% a year against a cohort median of 0.50%. That ties it with FHLC as the cheapest in the group and edges VHT at 0.09%.
• One of the most actively traded funds in its category, which generally keeps bid-ask spreads thin whether you trade 10 shares or 10,000.
• Launched December 1998 as one of the first US sector funds, and it has tracked its S&P 500 health care index closely ever since.
• Covers the whole sector in one line: pharma, devices, providers, biotech, life-science tools and health tech. Pays quarterly.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• HRTS 0.75% net of a waiver through June 28, 2027 (0.99% gross). That sits above the category median and well above broad peers like XLV at 0.08% or VHT at 0.09%.
• One of the thinner traders in its category and smaller by assets. Limit orders matter more here than with a mega sector fund.
• About 50 names in one disease niche: a single trial readout can move the whole portfolio. Concentration cuts both ways.

• XLV Cap-weighted and about 60 names deep, so the largest drug and device makers carry most of the weight.ssga.com
• S&P 500 members only. Mid- and small-cap health care names sit outside the mandate.
• One sector, one set of headlines: drug pricing rules, patent expirations and policy shifts move the whole basket together.

Full HRTS profile⁠

Full XLV profile⁠