State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT:SPY) provides broad market exposure with lower fees, whereas Invesco QQQ (NASDAQ:QQQ) offers concentrated growth potential through its heavy tilt toward technology.
Investors often choose between the State Street fund and the Invesco QQQ ETF when building a core portfolio. While SPY tracks the broad-market S&P 500, QQQ follows the technology-centric NASDAQ-100. This choice often involves balancing a preference for wide-reaching diversification against a desire for more aggressive, growth-oriented performance.
|
Metric |
QQQ |
SPY |
|---|---|---|
|
Issuer |
Invesco |
SPDR |
|
Expense ratio |
0.18% |
0.095% |
|
1-yr return (as of June 19, 2026) |
40% |
25% |
|
Dividend yield |
0.4% |
1% |
|
Beta |
1.23 |
1.0 |
|
AUM |
~$493.2 billion |
~$765.3 billion |
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. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield.
The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust is the more affordable option, charging a 0.095% expense ratio. For investors prioritizing income, it also offers a more robust payout with a 1% trailing-12-month dividend yield. In contrast, the Invesco fund charges about twice as much and provides a 0.4% yield, reflecting its emphasis on capital growth over distributions.
|
Metric |
QQQ |
SPY |
|---|---|---|
|
Max drawdown (5 yr) |
(35.10%) |
(24.50%) |
|
Growth of $1,000 over 5 years (total return) |
~$2,173 |
~$1,906 |
The State Street ETF holds 504 stocks, providing broad coverage across all 11 industry sectors. Its largest positions include Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) at 7.8%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) at 6.82%, and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) at 4.41%. Launched in 1993, this fund has a trailing-12-month dividend payout of $7.38 per share. Its sector allocation features technology at 39%, financial services at 11%, and communication services at 11%.
Invesco QQQ is more concentrated, holding 102 stocks. Top holdings include Nvidia at 8.08%, Apple at 7.06%, and Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) at 5.27%. Launched in 1999, this fund has a trailing-12-month dividend payout of $2.81 per share. Its sector allocation leans heavily into technology at 59%, communication services at 14%, and consumer cyclical at 11%.
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The most obvious difference between these mega-popular ETFs is their number of holdings. Obviously, State Street’s fund has positions in way more companies. But because of the massive growth of a few huge tech names in the S&P 500 over the past several years, the top five holdings in SPY make up about 26% of the portfolio. So it’s not as simple as “largely tech ETF vs. an S&P 500 ETF.”
Source: Yahoo Finance