The Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEMKT: VDC) and Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEMKT: RSPS) both focus on consumer staples, but VDC is much larger, carries a lower expense ratio, and weights its holdings by market cap, while RSPS uses an equal-weight approach and charges more.
Both VDC and RSPS give investors exposure to the consumer staples sector, but they approach it differently. VDC tracks a broad, cap-weighted index including over 100 stocks, while RSPS equally weights just 37 S&P 500 consumer staples names. This comparison highlights their differences in cost, recent returns, risk, and portfolio construction.
|
Metric |
VDC |
RSPS |
|---|---|---|
|
Issuer |
Vanguard |
Invesco |
|
Expense ratio |
0.09% |
0.40% |
|
1-yr return (as of 2026-02-04) |
11.5% |
14.5% |
|
Dividend yield |
2.10% |
2.63% |
|
Beta |
0.64 |
0.61 |
|
AUM |
$9.05 billion |
$249.67 million |
Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months.
RSPS is more expensive to hold than VDC, charging 0.40% annually versus 0.09%, but it has delivered a slightly higher dividend yield, paying 2.6% compared to VDC’s 2.1%.
|
Metric |
VDC |
RSPS |
|---|---|---|
|
Max drawdown (5 y) |
-16.55% |
-18.60% |
|
Growth of $1,000 over 5 years |
$1,375 |
$1,073 |
RSPS tracks an equal-weighted index of S&P 500 consumer staples names, giving smaller companies a bigger role than in traditional cap-weighted funds. With 37 holdings, its largest positions recently included Bunge Global SA (NYSE:BG), Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE:CL), and Church & Dwight Co Inc. (NYSE:CHD), each making up just over 3% of assets. The fund has been operating for over 19 years and holds only consumer defensive stocks, rebalancing quarterly.
VDC, in contrast, includes over 100 companies, weighting them by market cap and resulting in heavy tilts toward giants like Walmart Inc. (NASDAQ:WMT), Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST), and Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG). VDC’s sector makeup is nearly all consumer defensive, with small allocations to consumer cyclical and industrials, making it more diversified by number of holdings and offering broader industry coverage within staples.
For more guidance on ETF investing, check out the full guide at this link.
Although the Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) and the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Staples ETF (RSPS) both deliver exposure to the consumer staples sector, their approach is quite different. Those differences can be the reasons for choosing one over the other.
