NUSC vs SNPE

NUSCCNuveen ESG Small-Cap ETF

SNPEAXtrackers S&P 500 Scored & Screened ETF

In short

NUSC ESG screens are thick on the ground in large caps and scarce in small caps. Nuveen has run this one since 2016, tracking TIAA's own ESG small-cap index across roughly 400 US names.

SNPE The S&P 500 with roughly 200 names screened out, for 0.10% a year. SNPE keeps the plumbing of a plain core index fund and lets S&P's rules, not a stock picker, decide who stays in the basket.

Stated mandate

NUSC The Fund seeks to track the performance of the TIAA ESG USA Small-Cap Index before fees and expenses. The index targets U.S.-listed small-cap companies selected using environmental, social, and governance criteria.

SNPE The fund seeks investment results that generally correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of its underlying index.

Why people hold it

• NUSC Live since 2016 and tracking TIAA's own ESG USA Small-Cap Index. Rules decide which small caps make the cut, not a manager's judgment call.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades at moderate volume. Real staying power for a screened corner of the small-cap aisle.
• Roughly 400 US small caps: a defined slice, not the full Russell 2000 sprawl, with the ESG screen stated up front in the fund's mandate.

• SNPE A 0.10% expense ratio puts it in the cheap seats of the screened-index crowd, alongside XVV (0.08%) and ESGV (0.09%) and well under the group's typical fee.
• Plain index plumbing: it aims to match the S&P 500 Scored & Screened Index before fees, and it has hugged that mandate closely.
• Roughly 300 stocks, so the screen actually bites. Around 200 S&P 500 members are cut outright rather than quietly trimmed.
• A multi-billion-dollar Xtrackers fund running since 2019 with steady daily volume and quarterly payouts. Not a thin, untested launch.

Worth knowing

• NUSC At 0.31%, it runs above the small-cap median and well above VB and SCHA at 0.03% or IWM at 0.19%. The screen is what the extra buys.
• Screening to about 400 names leaves out much of the small-cap market, so results can drift from broad small-cap benchmarks in either direction.
• Distributions come annually or semiannually, not monthly.

• SNPE Cutting ~200 names concentrates what's left. The megacap leaders of the parent index end up carrying even more weight here.
• The screens are S&P's, not yours. They are rules-based and reapplied at each rebalance, so the roster can shift without warning.
• Not the outright cheapest option in the group: XVV and ESGV shave a basis point or two off the fee.

Full NUSC profile⁠

Full SNPE profile⁠