VALQ vs VYM

VALQBAmerican Century STOXX U.S. Quality Value ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

VALQ Cheap stocks are sometimes cheap for a reason. VALQ's index screens U.S. large and mid caps for quality and income alongside valuation, so the bargain bin gets filtered before anything gets bought. Launched 2018, 0.29% a year.

VYM The no-frills dividend workhorse. VYM buys the higher-yielding end of the US market, roughly 600 names, for four basis points: no quality screen, no dividend-growth-streak test, just yield, at scale since 2006.

Stated mandate

VALQ The fund seeks to capture the performance of U.S. large- and mid-capitalization companies with attractive quality, valuation, and income fundamentals.

VYM The Fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of common stocks from companies characterized by high dividend yields.

Why people hold it

• VALQ A three-way test: quality, valuation and income fundamentals across U.S. large- and mid-cap companies. Not a pure cheapness sweep.americancentury.com
• 0.29% a year undercuts the typical U.S. multifactor fund, and the portfolio spreads across roughly 220 stocks rather than a narrow bet.
• Income is written into the screen itself, not bolted on afterward, and the fund distributes quarterly.
• Rules-based, not manager hunch: it follows the American Century U.S. Quality Value Index and lands in the upper half of a crowded multifactor peer group.americancentury.com

• VYM Four basis points a year, against a peer-group median near 0.32%. Cheaper than cohort neighbors VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%).
• Running since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so ordinary orders tend to fill at tight spreads.
• Simple mandate: track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index of US common stocks screened on yield. No manager discretion, no options overlay, plain 1940-Act fund.vanguard.com
• Pays quarterly, and among 100-plus value and multifactor rivals it stands as one of the strongest overall packages in the group.

Worth knowing

• VALQ Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so bid-ask spreads can run wider and larger orders can move the price.
• Broad value peers like VONV and VYM charge a fraction of this fee; the extra cost is what buys the quality and income screens.
• Those same filters make it behave differently from a plain value index, in either direction, over any given stretch.

• VYM The screen is yield, not payout growth or dividend quality, so a company can qualify simply because its share price fell.
• This is a value slice by design, tilted to established payers, so it behaves differently from a total US market fund.
• Roughly 600 holdings, but weight leans toward the largest payers, so the top of the roster does more of the work than the count suggests.

Full VALQ profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠