VWEAX vs HYG (2026)
Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund Admiral Shares and iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF side by side. VWEAX is the cheaper fund (0.12% vs 0.49% expense ratio). Over the last five years VWEAX returned more (+20.06% vs +18.13%, total return). Their portfolios overlap by about 1% of weight. Not investment advice.
Fund facts#
Data provided bySource: Twelve DataReturns as of market close, Oct 30, 2026. The charts run through the Oct 30 close.
| VWEAX | HYG | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Bond Funds | High Yield |
| Expense ratio | 0.12% | 0.49% |
| AUM | $25.6B | $16.2B |
| Distribution yield | — | 6.11% |
| Holdings | 420 | 518 |
| 1M total | +0.8% | +0.7% |
| YTD total | +0.4% | +0.4% |
| 1Y total | +2.3% | +1.6% |
| 3Y total | +27.5% | +27.7% |
| 5Y total | +20.1% | +18.1% |
| 10Y total | — | +52.5% |
| 3Y total CAGR | +8.4%/yr | +8.5%/yr |
| 5Y total CAGR | +3.7%/yr | +3.4%/yr |
| 10Y total CAGR | — | +4.3%/yr |
| Issuer | Vanguard | BlackRock |
| Inception | — | 2007-04-04 |
All returns are total returns (dividends reinvested), through the latest price during the session. CAGR = compound annual growth rate. '—' means the fund's history doesn't span the horizon. A mutual fund's AUM is its whole fund's, every share class together (its SEC filing); an ETF's is its own. Returns run to Oct 30, 2026, the last month-end, as fund companies report a mutual fund's: a fund that pays monthly books each month's income on its last business day, so a return to a later day would leave that month's income out.
Annualized returns (CAGR)#
Data provided bySource: Twelve DataCompound annual growth rate per holding period, total return, from weekly adjusted closes. Horizons a fund's history can't span show no bar; horizons no fund spans are omitted.
Performance, rebased#
Data provided bySource: Twelve DataReturns by year#
Data provided bySource: Twelve Data| Year | VWEAX | HYG |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | — | +6.1% |
| 2018 | — | -2.0% |
| 2019 | — | +14.1% |
| 2020 | +5.4% | +4.5% |
| 2021 | +3.8% | +3.8% |
| 2022 | -9.0% | -11.0% |
| 2023 | +11.8% | +11.5% |
| 2024 | +6.4% | +8.0% |
| 2025 | +9.5% | +8.6% |
| 2026 YTD | +0.4% | +0.4% |
Total returns (dividends reinvested), calendar years.
Returns by year, charted#
Holdings overlap#
VWEAX and HYG overlap by about 1% of portfolio weight — 4 shared holdings out of 420 in VWEAX and 518 in HYG, from each fund's latest SEC filing (Jul 31, 2026 / Aug 31, 2026).
Only in VWEAX
United States Treasury Note/Bond (5.7%), CCO Holdings LLC / CCO Holdings Capital Corp (2.3%), TransDigm Inc (1.2%), Cloud Software Group LLC (1.1%), JP Morgan Securities LLC (1.0%) and 411 more.
Only in HYG
BlackRock Funds III (11.9%), CCO HLDGS LLC/CAP CORP (1.8%), TRANSDIGM INC (1.5%), BLACKROCK CASH FUNDS TREASURY SL AGENCY SHARES (1.2%), VENTURE GLOBAL LNG INC (0.9%) and 509 more.
Top 10 holdings, side by side#
Merged top 10 across the funds — each column is the holding's % of that fund.
Growth from any starting date#
Data provided bySource: Twelve DataHover to move the starting point — every fund rebases to 1× at that date, so the comparison holds from any entry point back to 2019 (the earliest date all 2 funds existed). Log scale, weekly total returns.
Fund flows#
| Period | VWEAX | HYG |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | — | −$1B |
| Jul 2026 | +$67.2M | −$377.9M |
| Jun 2026 | +$26.3M | +$1.6B |
| May 2026 | +$104.4M | −$826.7M |
| Apr 2026 | — | +$391M |
| Mar 2026 | — | +$5.8B |
Net creations minus redemptions, derived from consecutive SEC N-PORT filings. The form only exists since mid-2019.
Fund flows, charted#
Methodology#
Returns are total returns (dividends reinvested) from daily adjusted closes. Holdings, overlap, sector weights and flows derive from each fund's public SEC filings (Form N-PORT), anchored on the latest filing and rolled forward daily by price moves. Overlap is the sum of the smaller weight across shared holdings. See each fund's full holdings: VWEAX holdings · HYG holdings. Past performance does not predict future returns; not investment advice.
FAQ#
- VWEAX or HYG — which is better?
- VWEAX is the cheaper fund (0.12% vs 0.49% expense ratio). Over the last five years VWEAX returned more (+20.06% vs +18.13%, total return). Their portfolios overlap by about 1% of weight. VWEAX, a managed fund, against HYG, the index it is measured by — what the manager added, or cost, after fees.
- How much do VWEAX and HYG overlap?
- VWEAX and HYG overlap by about 1% of portfolio weight, sharing 4 holdings (per each fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing, weights rolled forward to today).
- Is ChartRow affiliated with any of these funds?
- No. ChartRow is independent and not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Vanguard, BlackRock. Comparisons are derived independently from public SEC filings and market data; not investment advice.