IMCG vs RPG

IMCGAiShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF

RPGCInvesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF

In short

IMCG Growth investing usually means megacaps. IMCG works the middle of the market instead: roughly 300 mid-cap growth names, indexed since 2004, for six basis points a year.

RPG Growth, undiluted. RPG tracks the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index: roughly 70 names carved out of the 500, so the style comes through straight instead of spread thin across hundreds of stocks.

Stated mandate

IMCG The Fund seeks to track an index of U.S. mid-capitalization equities with growth characteristics. Its strategy uses representative sampling and generally invests at least 80% of assets in securities from the Underlying Index.

RPG The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the investment results of the S&P 500 Pure Growth Index. It generally invests at least 90% of total assets in securities comprising that index.

Why people hold it

• IMCG 0.06% a year, one third of the 0.18% median for its growth-fund peer group. Mid-cap indexing at large-cap-index prices.
• The growth leaderboard is stacked with large-cap funds (VUG, SCHG, SPYG, VONG). IMCG covers the middle instead, holding about 300 mid-cap growth names.
• Sticks close to the Morningstar mid-cap growth index it follows, one of the tighter tracking jobs in its peer group.
• Running since 2004 under the iShares roof, with a multi-billion-dollar asset base behind it.

• RPG Concentration with a point: about 70 holdings drawn from the S&P 500, so the growth tilt shows up in the portfolio instead of washing out.
• The contract is plain: at least 90% of total assets in the index's members. No manager discretion, no drifting into whatever is hot this quarter.
• Live since 2006, a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• IMCG Moderately traded rather than heavily traded, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the megacap growth ETFs sitting beside it in the category.
• This is a size-and-style bet. Mid-cap growth companies tend to move more sharply than the broad market, in both directions.
• Distributions land quarterly, but a growth screen is not built around income.

• RPG 0.35% a year sits well above the growth-ETF norm. Broad index rivals like VUG (0.03%) and SCHG (0.04%) charge a sliver of that for the wider growth sleeve.
• A 70-stock style sleeve moves in bigger steps than the full index, and it has been among the more volatile funds in its growth peer group.
• In a crowded growth category, fee and volatility leave it behind the cheap index giants that anchor the group's top tier.

Full IMCG profile⁠

Full RPG profile⁠