HTEC vs VHT

HTECCROBO Global Healthcare Technology and Innovation ETF

VHTAVanguard Health Care ETF

In short

HTEC Broad healthcare ETFs are mostly big pharma in a trench coat. HTEC goes the other way: roughly 60 global companies building the tools, from robotic surgery to gene sequencing to AI-assisted diagnostics.

VHT The whole US health care sector in one ticket: roughly 400 stocks, an index that reaches well past the megacaps, and a nine-basis-point fee. Trading since 2004, it is one of the category's originals.

Stated mandate

HTEC The Fund seeks to track the price and yield performance of the ROBO Global Healthcare Technology and Innovation Index before fees and expenses. It uses a primarily passive strategy and normally invests at least 80% of assets in Index or Healthcare Technology Company securities.

VHT The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of health care stocks.

Why people hold it

• HTEC Theme first, pharma second. The index screens for firms drawing a real portion of business and revenue from healthcare technology, so you own tool builders, not drugmakers.sec.gov
• Roughly 60 names spread across the healthcare-tech value chain, from diagnostics to robotic surgery, so no single stock runs the show.vettafi.com
• Global by construction: the index is built as a worldwide benchmark, not a US-only one, so device and genomics firms listed abroad are in scope.vettafi.com
• Trading since 2019, so there is a real operating history behind the theme rather than a back-test and a brochure.

• VHT Costs 0.09% a year while the typical fund in its health care peer group charges 0.50%. Same sector, a fraction of the toll.
• Roughly 400 holdings drawn from an investable-market index, so mid and small health care companies count too, not just the sector's giants.vanguard.com
• Two decades old, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, moderately traded, and it has hugged its benchmark closely. Pays out quarterly.
• On cost, tracking and tradability together, it stands among the strongest builds in a 24-fund health care cohort.

Worth knowing

• HTEC You pay up for the specialty: 0.68% net of a waiver through August 31, 2027 (0.80% gross), versus 0.08% for XLV and 0.09% for VHT, and above the category norm.
• A smaller, thinly traded fund, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the giant healthcare trackers and sizable orders may take patience.
• Narrow by design. Roughly 60 innovation names can swing harder than a broad healthcare index, and most big pharma simply is not in the basket.

• VHT FHLC and XLV each shave a basis point off the fee. If the fee line is your only tiebreaker, VHT is not the final word.
• One sector, one news cycle. Drug pricing rules, patent expirations and regulatory decisions can move the entire basket at once.vanguard.com
• Cap-weighted with a 25/50 diversification rule, so no single name can dominate outright, but the largest pharma and insurer positions still steer most of the ride.vanguard.com

Full HTEC profile⁠

Full VHT profile⁠