LGHT vs VHT

LGHTFLangar Global HealthTech ETF

VHTAVanguard Health Care ETF

In short

LGHT A concentrated bet on the machines and software behind modern medicine: actively managed, global in reach, and pointed at healthcare technology rather than the pharma-heavy sector index everyone else owns.

VHT The whole US health care sector in one ticket: roughly 400 stocks, an index that reaches well past the megacaps, and a nine-basis-point fee. Trading since 2004, it is one of the category's originals.

Stated mandate

LGHT The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital. It is actively managed and invests at least 80% of assets in exchange-listed healthcare-technology equities and ADRs, principally in the United States and certain developed countries.

VHT The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of health care stocks.

Why people hold it

• LGHT Narrow by design: at least 80% of assets sit in exchange-listed healthcare-technology stocks and ADRs, not the whole drugmakers-and-insurers sector.
• Casts wider than the typical health-care sector fund: US plus developed international names, reachable directly or through ADRs.
• Actively managed toward long-term growth of capital, so the manager can rotate holdings as the field shifts instead of waiting on an index reconstitution.

• VHT Costs 0.09% a year while the typical fund in its health care peer group charges 0.50%. Same sector, a fraction of the toll.
• Roughly 400 holdings drawn from an investable-market index, so mid and small health care companies count too, not just the sector's giants.vanguard.com
• Two decades old, now a multi-billion-dollar fund, moderately traded, and it has hugged its benchmark closely. Pays out quarterly.
• On cost, tracking and tradability together, it stands among the strongest builds in a 24-fund health care cohort.

Worth knowing

• LGHT Charges 0.85% a year, a multiple of what the broad health-care index heavyweights in its peer group (VHT, XLV, FHLC) charge.
• Small and thinly traded, so bid-ask spreads and order size carry more weight here than in a mega-fund.
• A 2024 launch built for capital growth, not income: short operating history and no record of regular distributions.

• VHT FHLC and XLV each shave a basis point off the fee. If the fee line is your only tiebreaker, VHT is not the final word.
• One sector, one news cycle. Drug pricing rules, patent expirations and regulatory decisions can move the entire basket at once.vanguard.com
• Cap-weighted with a 25/50 diversification rule, so no single name can dominate outright, but the largest pharma and insurer positions still steer most of the ride.vanguard.com

Full LGHT profile⁠

Full VHT profile⁠