MDEV vs XLV

MDEVDFirst Trust Indxx Medical Devices ETF

XLVAState Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

MDEV Medical devices, worldwide and evenly sliced. MDEV tracks a global index of roughly 50 device and equipment makers in similar-sized weights, so a mid-cap scanner or surgical-robot maker counts about as much as the household-name giants.

XLV Live since 1998, XLV is the original way to own health care: about 60 S&P 500 names, a 0.08% fee, and one of the busiest tickers in the sector. Big pharma and device makers, not small-cap biotech.

Stated mandate

MDEV The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Indxx Medical Devices Index before fees and expenses, using an indexing approach.

XLV The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Health Care Select Sector Index, which represents the health care sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Why people hold it

• MDEV Pure play by design: the index covers the medical equipment industry only, and at least 80% of net assets go into its constituents. No pharma or insurers riding along.usnews.com
• Equal weighting keeps one mega-cap from running the show. About 50 device names get similar-sized slices, pushing real weight toward the mid-sized makers.public.comrobinhood.com
• Global by mandate, not US-only: the fund holds common stocks and depositary receipts from device makers listed outside the States, using plain physical index replication.businesswire.comusnews.com

• XLV 0.08% a year against a cohort median of 0.50%. That ties it with FHLC as the cheapest in the group and edges VHT at 0.09%.
• One of the most actively traded funds in its category, which generally keeps bid-ask spreads thin whether you trade 10 shares or 10,000.
• Launched December 1998 as one of the first US sector funds, and it has tracked its S&P 500 health care index closely ever since.
• Covers the whole sector in one line: pharma, devices, providers, biotech, life-science tools and health tech. Pays quarterly.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• MDEV At 0.70% a year, it costs more than the typical global thematic fund, and well above cheaper cohort names like PBPH (0.13%) or UFOX (0.30%).
• Small and thinly traded: spreads can run wide, and sub-scale funds face a higher chance of closure or merger than their bigger shelf-mates.
• One industry, about 50 stocks. Reimbursement rules, hospital budgets and regulators move the whole basket at once, and payouts come once or twice a year.

• XLV Cap-weighted and about 60 names deep, so the largest drug and device makers carry most of the weight.ssga.com
• S&P 500 members only. Mid- and small-cap health care names sit outside the mandate.
• One sector, one set of headlines: drug pricing rules, patent expirations and policy shifts move the whole basket together.

Full MDEV profile⁠

Full XLV profile⁠