SEIQ vs SPHQ

SEIQBSEI QiM U.S. Large Cap Quality Active ETF

SPHQAInvesco S&P 500 Quality ETF

In short

SEIQ SEI runs quality the active way: about 50 U.S. large caps its own manager judges to be the best of the bunch, priced at 0.15%. Index-fund economics on a hand-picked portfolio, in a factor aisle dominated by rules-based giants.

SPHQ Live since 2005, SPHQ is an elder statesman of quality investing: rank the S&P 500 on profitability, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength, hold the top 100, charge 0.15% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028.

Stated mandate

SEIQ The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in U.S. common stocks that SIMC considers to have superior quality.

SPHQ The fund seeks exposure to the S&P 500 Quality Index and normally invests at least 90% of assets in common stocks included in that index.

Why people hold it

• SEIQ 0.15% is index-fund cheap for an actively picked portfolio, level with the largest passive quality funds (QUAL, FQAL) and under most of the cohort.
• About 50 names, so the quality screen actually shows up in the portfolio instead of getting diluted across hundreds of stocks.
• Tight mandate: U.S. common stocks SEI's manager judges to have superior quality, screened on profitability. Little room to wander into other factors.
• Holds the upper half of a quality-factor group stacked with cheap giants from iShares, Vanguard, Fidelity and JPMorgan.

• SPHQ 0.15% net of a waiver through August 31, 2028 (0.20% gross), below the median for quality factor funds and level with QUAL and FQAL at 0.15%.
• The rules are published and mechanical: score the S&P 500 on return on equity, accruals ratio and financial leverage ratio, take the top 100, weight by quality score times market cap.spglobal.com
• Universe discipline: candidates come only from the S&P 500, so every holding is an established large cap rather than a smaller name screened in from a broader pool.spglobal.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, pays quarterly, and has run since 2005. It sits in the stronger tier of quality factor ETFs.

Worth knowing

• SEIQ Concentration cuts both ways: with roughly 50 holdings, one company's bad quarter lands harder than it would in a quality index spread across hundreds.
• Quality here is SEI's own call, not a published index rule, so the portfolio can look quite different from the standard factor benchmarks.
• Launched in 2022 and moderately traded, so it carries a shorter record and a thinner order book than the category's largest funds.

• SPHQ About 100 stocks, weighted by quality score times market cap, so the biggest high-scorers carry real weight. Narrower than owning the full S&P 500.spglobal.com
• The index rebalances semiannually, so a company whose fundamentals slip mid-period stays in the portfolio until the next reshuffle.spglobal.com
• Two peers undercut it on fee: JQUA at 0.12% and VFQY at 0.13%.

Full SEIQ profile⁠

Full SPHQ profile⁠