ILCG vs SPYG

ILCGAiShares Morningstar Growth ETF

SPYGAState Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF

In short

ILCG Growth by Morningstar's rulebook. A 2004-vintage iShares fund that screens large and mid caps for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow and book-value growth, and charges four basis points to do it.

SPYG The growth half of the S&P 500 for 0.04% a year, running since 2000. No exotic screen, no reinvention: just the index's fastest-growing names, in the cheapest wrapper tracking that index.

Stated mandate

ILCG The fund aims to follow an index of U.S. large- and mid-cap stocks chosen for above-average earnings, sales, cash-flow, and book-value growth.

SPYG The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the S&P 500 Growth Index. It provides exposure to S&P 500 companies selected for strong growth characteristics.

Why people hold it

• ILCG 0.04% a year. The typical fund in its factor peer group charges roughly eight times that, so almost none of the return leaks out the fee door.
• Uses Morningstar's growth definition (earnings, sales, cash flow, book value) rather than S&P's or Russell's, and reaches into mid caps, not just the S&P 500.ishares.com
• Trading since 2004, a multi-billion-dollar fund holding roughly 300 stocks. Long-running plumbing, not a launch-week experiment.
• Tracking has been tight, and the fund sits in the upper half of its factor cohort overall, with cost doing much of the heavy lifting.

• SPYG Costs 0.04% a year, well under the typical fee in the US growth-ETF group.
• The cheapest way to buy the S&P 500 Growth Index: VOOG follows the same benchmark at 0.07%.
• Has tracked its index tightly, one of the strongest implementations among growth funds we grade.
• Trading since 2000, now a multi-billion-dollar fund that changes hands actively, so spreads stay thin. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• ILCG Pure growth means no value ballast, and the ride has been bumpier than most funds in its factor group. The style can sit out of favor for long stretches.
• Concentration runs high for the cohort: cap-weighted growth screens funnel a big share of the fund into the same handful of mega-cap names.
• Moderately traded, not a tape leader. Sibling IUSG applies S&P's growth definition at the same 0.04%, so the pick is which index rulebook you prefer.

• SPYG About 150 stocks, not 500. You get the growth slice, which means heavier single-name and sector concentration than the full index.
• The index screens on growth and momentum, so rebalances lean into names that have already run and the ride is bumpier than the broad market.
• Large-cap US only. No small caps, no international, no bonds.

Full ILCG profile⁠

Full SPYG profile⁠