IMCB vs VO: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

IMCBANYSE Arca

Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

VOANYSE Arca

Overlap

68.4%by weight

Expense ratio

VO −0.01pt a year

IMCB0.04%VO0.03%

Avg volume · 30D

VO 79.4×the volume

IMCB35.8KVO2.84M

10Y return · a year

IMCB +0.1pt

IMCB+11.8%VO+11.7%

IMCB vs VO Performance

Oct 29, 2021 – Oct 30, 2026

+49.4%IMCB+39.6%VO

Expense ratio: IMCB 0.04%; VO 0.03%, better
Fund size: IMCB $1.75B; VO $217B
1Y total return: IMCB +20.1%, better; VO +13.6%
Yield (12M): IMCB 1.22%; VO 1.35%, better
Holdings: IMCB 396; VO 277
Avg volume (30D): IMCB 35.8K sh; VO 2.84M sh, better
NAV per share: IMCB $97.86; VO $81.46
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for IMCB, VO, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	IMCB	VO
Cost30% weight	A86	A86
Mission25% weight	A100	A100
Risk15% weight	A76Higher	B67
Tradability15% weight	B60	B60
Holdings10% weight	A72Higher	C49
Durability5% weight	A70	A92Higher

Rank among US Mid-Cap funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. IMCB and VO are both graded against the same 13 US Mid-Cap funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Mid-Cap⁠

Category · 13 funds

See all 13 ›

IMCB ranks 1st and VO 3rd of 13 funds in the US Mid-Cap Category.

Rank 1AIMCBiShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETFScore 82
Rank 2ASCHMSchwab U.S. Mid-Cap ETFScore 80
Rank 3AVOVanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETFScore 79
Rank 4AIWRiShares Russell Mid-Cap ETFScore 74

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

IMCBAiShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

VOAVanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

In short

IMCB Mid-cap America for four basis points, running since 2004. It samples Morningstar's US mid-cap index across roughly 400 stocks and hews to that benchmark about as closely as anything in its category.

VO The plain middle of the US market for three basis points. VO owns roughly 300 stocks sitting between the 70th and 85th percentile of investable market cap, each at index weight, with buffer bands that slow the churn at the edges.

Stated mandate

IMCB The Fund seeks to track an index of mid-capitalization U.S. equities. It uses indexing and representative sampling rather than trying to outperform the index.

VO The fund seeks to track the CRSP US Mid Cap Index by investing in its U.S. mid-cap stocks through passive, full replication.

Why people hold it

IMCB Costs 0.04% a year, against roughly 0.15% typical for the mid-cap group.
Indexing, not opinions: representative sampling of the Morningstar US Mid Cap Index, with tracking among the tightest in its peer group.ishares.com
Trading since 2004 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund, so there is a long operating history here, not a launch-year story.
About 400 names covering both the growth and value sides of US mid caps, so no style tilt is baked in.

VO Costs 0.03% a year against a 0.15% median for mid-cap peers, matching SCHM as the cheapest in the group and undercutting IWR by a wide margin.
Full replication, not sampling: it holds the index's roughly 300 names at index weight, and its tracking is among the tightest in the mid-cap group.vanguard.com
Trading since 2004 as a share class of Vanguard's Mid-Cap Index Fund, it has grown into one of the largest and most actively traded mid-cap index funds.sec.gov
CRSP draws the mid-cap line by percentage of market cap, not a fixed stock count, with buffer zones at the edges so companies migrate gradually rather than jumping buckets.crsp.org bogleheads.org

Worth knowing

IMCB Thinly traded next to the category's household names, so spreads and order handling matter more at the moment of a trade.
All US, all stocks: mid caps move harder than mega caps, and nothing else in the portfolio cushions an equity selloff.
VO and SCHM cover similar ground at 0.03%, so the cost edge here is over the group average rather than over the cheapest rivals.

VO Mid caps move harder than blue chips, and Vanguard flags that: the fund sits at the top of its own 1-to-5 risk scale.vanguard.com
One band of the market by design. No mega caps, no small caps, so it covers the middle rather than the whole US market.crsp.org
About 300 stocks is a narrower net than a total-market fund casts, and sector weights are simply whatever the middle of the market looks like at the time.

Full IMCB profile⁠

Full VO profile⁠

IMCB vs VO Holdings

How IMCB and VO differ

Overlap by weight

68.4%

Shared holdings make up 92.8% of VO and 71.5% of IMCB.

Level by level

Holdings255 in both68.4%
Sector11 Sectors93.9%
Countryby domicile98.5%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in IMCB and VO, widest gap first
Sector	More in IMCBMore in VO	IMCB	VO
Technology	VO +2.7 points	14.9%	17.6%
Utilities	VO +1.7 points	6.0%	7.7%
Materials	IMCB +1.6 points	5.7%	4.1%
Financials	IMCB +1.6 points	15.4%	13.8%
Health Care	IMCB +1.2 points	10.5%	9.3%
Consumer Staples	IMCB +0.9 points	5.7%	4.8%
Real Estate	VO +0.8 points	4.0%	4.8%
Industrials	IMCB +0.6 points	19.1%	18.5%
Communication	VO +0.6 points	1.6%	2.1%
Energy	VO +0.3 points	8.3%	8.6%
Consumer Discretionary	IMCB +0.1 points	8.8%	8.7%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in IMCB and VO, widest gap first
Country	More in IMCBMore in VO	IMCB	VO
United States	VO +1.5 points	98.5%	100.0%
Other countries (5)	IMCB +1.6 points	1.6%	0.0%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

IMCB7.4%
VO9.7%

Securities held

IMCB394
VO272

Asset class

IMCB: Equity
VO: Equity

Holdings

Only in IMCB139
In both255
Only in VO17

Only in IMCB

139 securities, 28.4% of IMCB by weight

Dell Technologies Inc Class C0.83%
Automatic Data Processing Inc0.80%
Bank of New York Mellon Corp0.69%
Csx0.66%
Marsh0.66%
Us Bancorp0.64%
Emerson Electric0.63%
Pnc Financial Services Group0.63%
3M0.62%
Freeport Mcmoran Inc0.62%
Elevance Health Inc0.60%
Eog Resources0.60%
Mondelez International Class A0.57%
United Parcel Service Inc Class B0.56%
Illinois Tool Inc0.55%
Northrop Grumman Corp0.54%
Ecolab0.53%
Cigna0.52%
Sherwin Williams0.52%
Moodys Corp0.51%
Oreilly Automotive Inc0.49%
Airbnb Class A0.46%
Monster Beverage0.45%
Nxp Semiconductors NV0.43%
Natera0.39%
Vylor0.33%
Everpure Inc Class A0.28%
Revolution Medicines0.27%
Illumina Inc0.25%
Interactive Brokers Group Inc Clas0.23%
Williams Sonoma Inc0.20%
Twilio Class A0.20%
Atmos Energy0.20%
Emcor Group0.20%
Jabil0.20%
Technipfmc PLC0.18%
Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd0.17%
Caseys General Stores Inc0.17%
Royalty Pharma PLC Class A0.17%
Entegris Inc0.16%
Tapestry0.16%
Us Foods Holding0.16%
United Therapeutics0.16%
Smurfit Westrock PLC0.16%
Xpo0.15%
Reliance Steel & Aluminum0.15%
Omnicom Group Inc0.15%
Ati0.15%
Tenet Healthcare Corp0.15%
Amcor PLC0.15%

Only in VO

17 securities, 7.2% of VO by weight

Quanta Services Inc0.96%
Vertiv Holdings Co0.92%
Howmet Aerospace Inc0.89%
Constellation Energy Corp0.85%
Warner Bros Discovery Inc0.73%
Newmont Corp0.60%
Waste Connections Inc0.38%
Honeywell International Inc0.33%
Boston Scientific Corp0.31%
FedEx Corp0.30%
Cboe Global Markets Inc0.28%
Atlassian Corp0.28%
SLCMT11420.12%
Tradeweb Markets Inc0.11%
Cerebras Systems Inc0.05%
Venture Global Inc0.02%
Symbotic Inc0.01%

Weight gaps

The 100 widest of 255 Holdings in both funds.

Holding weights in IMCB and VO, widest gap first
Holding	More in IMCBMore in VO	IMCB	VO
Cloudflare Class ANET	VO +0.49 points	0.62%	1.11%
CortevaCTVA	VO +0.46 points	0.05%	0.51%
Robinhood Markets Class AHOOD	VO +0.42 points	0.46%	0.88%
Vivmark ResidentialVMRK	VO +0.41 points	0.06%	0.47%
Datadog Inc Class ADDOG	VO +0.37 points	0.54%	0.91%
Bloom Energy Class ABE	VO +0.37 points	0.40%	0.77%
Lumentum HoldingsLITE	VO +0.35 points	0.51%	0.86%
TeradyneTER	VO +0.32 points	0.30%	0.62%
Valero Energy CorpVLO	VO +0.32 points	0.79%	1.11%
CoherentCOHR	VO +0.29 points	0.27%	0.56%
Hewlett Packard EnterpriseHPE	VO +0.30 points	0.50%	0.80%
Comfort Systems UsaFIX	VO +0.29 points	0.29%	0.58%
Astera LabsALAB	VO +0.27 points	0.28%	0.55%
Keysight TechnologiesKEYS	VO +0.25 points	0.36%	0.61%
Regeneron PharmaceuticalsREGN	IMCB +0.25 points	0.63%	0.38%
Ross Stores IncROST	VO +0.24 points	0.50%	0.74%
Marathon PetroleumMPC	VO +0.24 points	0.86%	1.10%
Doordash Class ADASH	VO +0.24 points	0.47%	0.71%
Phillips 66PSX	VO +0.23 points	0.78%	1.01%
Monolithic Power Systems IncMPWR	VO +0.23 points	0.39%	0.62%
Cummins IncCMI	VO +0.23 points	0.47%	0.70%
Paccar IncPCAR	VO +0.22 points	0.35%	0.57%
Strategy Inc Class AMSTR	VO +0.22 points	0.33%	0.55%
Target CorpTGT	VO +0.23 points	0.48%	0.70%
WilliamsWMB	IMCB +0.21 points	0.62%	0.41%
Coreweave Class ACRWV	VO +0.21 points	0.13%	0.34%
Rocket Lab CorpRKLB	VO +0.20 points	0.21%	0.41%
Travelers CompaniesTRV	IMCB +0.20 points	0.57%	0.37%
ModernaMRNA	IMCB +0.20 points	0.54%	0.34%
CintasCTAS	IMCB +0.19 points	0.52%	0.33%
Colgate-PalmoliveCL	IMCB +0.19 points	0.53%	0.34%
Norfolk Southern CorpNSC	IMCB +0.19 points	0.53%	0.34%
Digital Realty Trust ReitDLR	VO +0.18 points	0.46%	0.64%
CienaCIEN	VO +0.18 points	0.31%	0.49%
Ametek IncAME	VO +0.18 points	0.38%	0.56%
Te Connectivity PLCTEL	VO +0.18 points	0.43%	0.61%
Kinder MorganKMI	IMCB +0.18 points	0.46%	0.28%
Johnson Controls International PLCJCI	IMCB +0.17 points	0.62%	0.45%
Alnylam PharmaceuticalsALNY	VO +0.18 points	0.15%	0.33%
Motorola Solutions IncMSI	VO +0.17 points	0.56%	0.73%
Hilton Worldwide HoldingsHLT	VO +0.17 points	0.54%	0.71%
FastenalFAST	VO +0.16 points	0.40%	0.56%
SlbSLB	VO +0.17 points	0.55%	0.72%
Baker Hughes Class ABKR	VO +0.16 points	0.38%	0.54%
GarminGRMN	VO +0.17 points	0.30%	0.47%
SnowflakeSNOW	IMCB +0.16 points	0.71%	0.55%
Transdigm GroupTDG	VO +0.16 points	0.43%	0.59%
Take Two Interactive SoftwareTTWO	VO +0.15 points	0.23%	0.38%
American Electric Power IncAEP	VO +0.15 points	0.49%	0.64%
Truist FinancialTFC	VO +0.15 points	0.41%	0.56%
Realty Income ReitO	VO +0.15 points	0.36%	0.51%
Netapp IncNTAP	VO +0.15 points	0.26%	0.41%
Rockwell Automation IncROK	VO +0.14 points	0.34%	0.48%
Dominion EnergyD	VO +0.15 points	0.38%	0.53%
VistraVST	VO +0.14 points	0.32%	0.46%
Royal Caribbean GroupRCL	VO +0.14 points	0.53%	0.67%
Simon Property Group Reit IncSPG	VO +0.14 points	0.47%	0.61%
Edwards LifesciencesEW	VO +0.14 points	0.35%	0.49%
General MotorsGM	VO +0.14 points	0.53%	0.67%
Carrier GlobalCARR	VO +0.14 points	0.29%	0.43%
Agilent Technologies IncA	VO +0.14 points	0.34%	0.48%
Coinbase Global Class ACOIN	VO +0.14 points	0.22%	0.36%
Archer Daniels MidlandADM	VO +0.14 points	0.24%	0.38%
Ww Grainger IncGWW	VO +0.14 points	0.41%	0.55%
Iqvia Holdings IncIQV	VO +0.14 points	0.30%	0.44%
Nasdaq IncNDAQ	VO +0.14 points	0.32%	0.46%
MetlifeMET	VO +0.13 points	0.37%	0.50%
Ford Motor CoF	VO +0.14 points	0.33%	0.47%
Ventas ReitVTR	VO +0.13 points	0.30%	0.43%
Ameriprise Finance IncAMP	VO +0.13 points	0.30%	0.43%
State StreetSTT	VO +0.13 points	0.32%	0.45%
Westinghouse Air Brake TechnologieWAB	VO +0.14 points	0.32%	0.46%
Rocket Companies Inc Class ARKT	VO +0.13 points	0.09%	0.22%
Microchip Technology IncMCHP	VO +0.13 points	0.29%	0.42%
Delta Air LinesDAL	VO +0.13 points	0.36%	0.49%
Air Products and ChemicalsAPD	VO +0.13 points	0.48%	0.61%
Crh Public Limited PLCCRH	VO +0.13 points	0.42%	0.55%
United Airlines HoldingsUAL	VO +0.13 points	0.23%	0.36%
Chipotle Mexican GrillCMG	VO +0.12 points	0.28%	0.40%
Ferguson EnterprisesFERG	VO +0.12 points	0.31%	0.43%
Idexx LaboratoriesIDXX	VO +0.12 points	0.29%	0.41%
Fifth Third BancorpFITB	VO +0.12 points	0.33%	0.45%
Diamondback EnergyFANG	VO +0.12 points	0.26%	0.38%
SempraSRE	VO +0.11 points	0.39%	0.50%
AflacAFL	VO +0.12 points	0.38%	0.50%
Waters CorpWAT	VO +0.12 points	0.31%	0.43%
OneokOKE	VO +0.11 points	0.42%	0.53%
United RentalsURI	VO +0.12 points	0.50%	0.62%
Block Class AXYZ	VO +0.11 points	0.28%	0.39%
Targa ResourcesTRGP	VO +0.11 points	0.46%	0.57%
Aon PLC Class AAON	VO +0.11 points	0.47%	0.58%
Prudential Financial IncPRU	VO +0.11 points	0.28%	0.39%
Becton DickinsonBDX	VO +0.11 points	0.37%	0.48%
HumanaHUM	VO +0.11 points	0.34%	0.45%
Cbre Group Class ACBRE	VO +0.11 points	0.26%	0.37%
Dexcom IncDXCM	VO +0.11 points	0.21%	0.32%
Cardinal HealthCAH	VO +0.11 points	0.40%	0.51%
Devon EnergyDVN	VO +0.11 points	0.39%	0.50%
Nike Class BNKE	VO +0.11 points	0.31%	0.42%
Medline Class AMDLN	VO +0.11 points	0.09%	0.20%

All 394 IMCB holdings⁠All 307 VO holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

IMCB vs VO Cost

Overpaying IMCB vs VO

$211

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

IMCB 0.04%
$849
VO 0.03%
$638

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

IMCB 0.04%
VO 0.03%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	IMCB	VO	Overpaying
10	$73	$55	$18
20	$288	$216	$72
30	$849	$638	$211

Expense ratio

0.04%IMCB
0.03%VO, cheaper

VO0.03%IMCB0.04%

0.03%0.79%

Middle half of US Mid-Cap funds
Median 0.15%

VO cheapest of 13 funds

IMCB 3rd cheapest of 13 funds

IMCB vs VO Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): IMCB 1.22%; VO 1.35%, better
Payout (12M): IMCB $1.20; VO $1.10
Last payment: IMCB $0.32; VO $0.29
Ex-dividend: IMCB Sep 15, 2026; VO Sep 28, 2026
Paid on: IMCB Sep 18, 2026; VO Sep 30, 2026
Frequency: IMCB Quarterly; VO Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2017 to 2026, same scale for both

IMCBQuarterly · 40 paymentsAll IMCB payments⁠

VOQuarterly · 39 paymentsAll VO payments⁠

IMCB vs VO Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

IMCB
VO

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: IMCB 13.9%VO 13.5%, better
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: IMCB 1.16, betterVO 1.09
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: IMCB −25.1%, betterVO −27.6%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: IMCB 1.00VO 1.00; Market = 1

IMCB and VO in the news

All news⁠

ETF Filings
Vanguard files for a U.S. small-mid cap active ETF after last year’s three reached $161 million
Sep 21, 2026VO

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IMCB vs VO

In short

Stated mandate

Why people hold it

Worth knowing

How IMCB and VO differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in IMCB

Only in VO

Weight gaps

Cost over time

Year by year

Distribution history

Fall from peak · 5 years

Risk facts

Vanguard files for a U.S. small-mid cap active ETF after last year’s three reached $161 million

How IMCB and VO differ

Level by level

Sector

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Concentration

Asset class

Holdings

Only in IMCB

Only in VO

Weight gaps