Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF

VBR

Market cap $36.7B

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Small-cap value is one of the most persistent factor bets in equity research, but the two most popular ways to own it look almost nothing alike under the hood.

Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR) charges a lower expense ratio of 0.05%, compared to 0.18% for the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF (IJJ). VBR offers a higher dividend yield and has delivered stronger total returns over the last year.

Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF offers a significantly lower expense ratio of 0.05%. State Street SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF tracks a more concentrated index of 462 profitable companies versus 835 for its competitor.

VBR offers a significantly lower expense ratio of 0.05% compared to the 0.18% fee for IJJ. While both funds target value stocks, VBR focuses on smaller companies, while IJJ targets the mid-cap space.

Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF has a significantly lower expense ratio than State Street SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF State Street SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF delivered a stronger 1-year total return, though Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF showed better 5-year growth Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF manages a much larger pool of assets and holds nearly twice as many individual stocks as the State Street fund

The iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF delivered a 27.10% total return over the last 12 months, slightly outpacing its Vanguard counterpart. The Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF maintains a significantly larger scale with $64.9 billion in assets under management compared to $656.6 million for the iShares fund.

VBR offers a meaningfully lower expense ratio than SLYV, giving it an advantage on fees. SLYV delivered a higher one-year total return, though it experienced a deeper maximum drawdown over the last five years.

The Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Fund ETF Shares (VBR) was launched on January 26, 2004, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Small Cap Value segment of the US equity market.

Small-cap value has done something in 2026 that few investors positioned for: it pulled meaningfully ahead of the growth complex that defined the prior decade.