HTEC vs XLV

HTECCROBO Global Healthcare Technology and Innovation ETF

XLVAState Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR 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.

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

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.

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

• 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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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 HTEC profile⁠

Full XLV profile⁠