VOX vs XLC

VOXBVanguard Communication Services ETF

XLCAState Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

VOX Communication services across the whole cap range, not just the S&P 500 slice: Vanguard's index reaches down into mid- and small-cap media and telecom, roughly 120 names, at nine basis points. Running since 2004.

XLC Launched in 2018, XLC bottles the communication services corner of the S&P 500: search, social, streaming and the phone companies, in one 0.08% wrapper that trades heavily all day.

Stated mandate

VOX The fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of communication-services stocks.

XLC The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Communication Services Select Sector Index.

Why people hold it

• VOX 0.09% a year, a basis point off the cheapest rivals (XLC, FCOM) and well under the 0.37% median for this group of funds.
• Tracks an MSCI investable-market index: large, mid and small caps, roughly 120 stocks. S&P 500-based rivals like XLC start and stop at large caps.vanguard.comssga.com
• Full replication where possible, holding each stock at about its index weight, with sampling used only if regulatory limits get in the way.vanguard.com

• XLC Costs 0.08% a year, a fraction of the typical fund in this sector group and tied with the cheapest of them (FCOM at 0.08%, VOX at 0.09%).
• A multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the busiest tickers in its category, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
• Clean, rules-based job: it shadows the Communication Services Select Sector Index closely, one of the tightest implementations in its peer group.ssga.com
• Large-cap only: constituents come from the S&P 500, spanning telecom, media, entertainment and interactive media, with S&P capping rules limiting how big any one name gets.ssga.comspglobal.com

Worth knowing

• VOX The sector is top-heavy, so the index applies RIC caps: no issuer above 25%, and all issuers over 5% capped at 50% combined. A few giants still set the pace.msci.com
• A single US sector and a non-diversified fund, so it rides media, entertainment and telecom rather than the broad market. Distributions come quarterly.vanguard.com

• XLC This is the most top-heavy neighborhood in the index. Even with capping at rebalance, a few mega-cap internet names set the tone for the whole fund.spglobal.com
• One sector out of eleven in the S&P 500, so it tracks ad budgets, subscriptions and phone bills rather than the broad market.spglobal.com
• FCOM and VOX sit within a penny of the same fee, so the real choice is index breadth: XLC stops at the S&P 500. Distributions come quarterly.ssga.com

Full VOX profile⁠

Full XLC profile⁠