VYM vs XMVM

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

XMVMCInvesco S&P MidCap Value with Momentum ETF

In short

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.

XMVM Mid-cap value with a second hurdle: a stock has to be cheap and actually moving to get in. Roughly 80 names from the S&P MidCap 400, weighted by how cheap they are rather than how big. Trading since 2005.

Stated mandate

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

XMVM The fund is based on the S&P MidCap 400 High Momentum Value Index.

Why people hold it

• 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.

• XMVM Two screens, not one. S&P ranks the MidCap 400 by value, then re-ranks that cheap pool by momentum, and only names clearing both reach the roughly 80-stock portfolio.spglobal.com
• Weighted by value score instead of market cap, so the deepest discounts carry the most weight and the lineup does not drift back toward the plain mid-cap benchmark.spglobal.com
• Listed in 2005, giving this value-plus-momentum recipe two decades of real-money history rather than a backtest.

Worth knowing

• 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.

• XMVM Costs 0.37%, above the category median and above broad value peers like VYM (0.04%) and VONV (0.06%), which buy far wider baskets for far less.
• Momentum ranks are refreshed only at the semi-annual rebalance, so the lineup can drift from the live factor picture between resets.spglobal.com
• Mid-caps only, about 80 of them, and it trades lightly next to the category's household names.

Full VYM profile⁠

Full XMVM profile⁠