LKOR vs SPLB

LKORBNorthern Trust Credit-Scored US Long Corporate Bond ETF

SPLBAState Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF

In short

LKOR Most long-corporate bond funds simply buy the market's biggest borrowers. LKOR scores issuers on quality and value first, then builds a 10-year-plus portfolio, for 0.15% net of a waiver through March 1, 2027.

SPLB SPLB owns the long end of the corporate bond market, investment-grade debt maturing in 10 years or more, for four basis points a year. Maximum duration exposure at a near-free price.

Stated mandate

LKOR The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Northern Trust US Long Corporate Bond Quality Value Index.

SPLB The fund seeks to track the Bloomberg U.S. Long Term Corporate Bond Index, which represents U.S. corporate bonds with maturities of at least 10 years.

Why people hold it

• LKOR Bonds get graded on issuer quality (solvency, profitability, management efficiency) and valuation, then optimized toward the best composite scores and rebuilt monthly.northerntrust.com
• Hard eligibility rules: investment grade, ten-year-plus final maturity, $250 million minimum outstanding per bond. Roughly 800 holdings spread the single-name risk.northerntrust.com
• 0.15% net of a waiver through March 1, 2027 (0.16% gross) lands near the category's typical fee and matches screened peer ZTEN at 0.15%. Pays monthly.
• No style drift. The portfolio holds what the name promises: long-dated US investment-grade corporates, tracked by representative sampling, no credit reaching, no overlays.flexshares.com

• SPLB Charges 0.04% a year, far under the typical investment-grade corporate bond ETF.
• Roughly 2,900 bonds tracking the Bloomberg U.S. Long Term Corporate Bond Index, so no single issuer steers the fund.ssga.com
• Coupons pass through monthly, and the fund has been running since 2009 with steady trading volume behind it.
• Tracks its index tightly and ranks among the stronger builds in the investment-grade corporate group.

Worth knowing

• LKOR Plain market-weighted rivals cost far less: VCLT at 0.03%, IGLB and SPLB at 0.04%. The credit screen carries the burden of justifying the gap.
• A small fund that trades lightly. On any given order the bid-ask spread can cost you more than a year of the expense ratio.
• Ten-year-plus maturities mean heavy interest-rate sensitivity. Prices move sharply when yields shift, and no quality score offsets that.northerntrust.comflexshares.com

• SPLB Ten-year-plus maturities swing hard when rates move. Intermediate SPIB or short-dated IGSB cover the same credit with far less rate sensitivity.
• Pure corporate credit, no Treasury ballast, so prices fall when spreads widen.
• US issuers only. No overseas corporate exposure here.

Full LKOR profile⁠

Full SPLB profile⁠