ISCG vs VUG

ISCGBiShares Morningstar Small-Cap Growth ETF

VUGAVanguard Morningstar Growth ETF

In short

ISCG A 2004-vintage small-cap growth sleeve that charges 0.06% and casts an unusually wide net, holding roughly 900 names selected on earnings, sales, cash flow and book value growth.

VUG Three basis points buys roughly 170 US large-cap growth names. Running since 2004, over $100 billion in assets, and it tracks its index about as closely as an index fund can.

Stated mandate

ISCG The fund seeks to track a U.S. small-cap index whose constituents are selected using growth measures including earnings, sales, cash flow, and book value growth.

VUG The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of large-capitalization growth stocks.

Why people hold it

• ISCG Six basis points, against a 0.25% median for its small-cap group. Style slices usually carry a style-slice price tag; this one does not.
• Roughly 900 holdings, a wide net even by small-cap standards, so no single stumble carries much weight.
• Follows its Morningstar growth index closely rather than drifting, one of the tighter tracking records in its peer group. Running since 2004 on the iShares platform.

• VUG 0.03% a year against a 0.18% median for its growth peer group. A rival tracking the same declared index charges 0.36%, twelve times more for the same shopping list.vanguard.com
• One of the largest and most heavily traded funds in US large-cap growth, and among the tightest index implementations in that group. Deep volume tends to mean thin spreads.
• Trading since January 2004, so the record spans full market cycles rather than a backtest. Distributions land quarterly.

Worth knowing

• ISCG Thinly traded next to the household-name small-cap funds, so bid-ask spreads can run wider and trade timing matters more.
• Small-cap growth is one of the choppier corners of the US market, and the ride here has been rougher than a broad-market equity fund's.
• This is the growth half of small caps, not the whole asset class. Broad small-cap funds like VB and SCHA hold both styles for 0.03%.

• VUG Cap-weighted, so the biggest mega-caps dominate the top of the book. That makes it one of the more concentrated portfolios in this cohort.vanguard.com
• A style sleeve, not the whole market: growth screens only, large caps only. When growth is out of favor it can swing harder than a total-market fund.
• SPYG and SCHG sit at 0.04%, so the price edge is a rounding error. The real gap is how each index defines a growth stock.

Full ISCG profile⁠

Full VUG profile⁠