ETF comparison
IBB vs XLV
Both Healthcare.
iShares Biotechnology ETF · State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF
Holdings overlap
9 positions appear in both funds. Buying equal dollars of IBB and XLV would leave roughly 11.1% of each dollar exposed to the same underlying securities.
Unmatched is the part of a fund's weight the other fund doesn't match: names only it holds, plus any extra weight it puts in names both funds hold.
Side by side
Sub-score comparison
Tracking quality isn't part of the composite — see what we don't score for why.
Cost difference
XLV is 36 bps cheaper than IBB. On a $100,000 position that's about $360/yr more in fees for IBB.
Fee figure is the annual expense charged on $100,000. To see how the gap compounds over a multi-decade holding period, open the cost calculator pre-filled with IBB vs XLV.
Top shared holdings
9 shared in total| # | Holding | In IBB | In XLV | Overlap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amgen, Inc. | 7.83% | 3.40% | 3.40% |
| 2 | Gilead Sciences, Inc. | 6.84% | 2.73% | 2.73% |
| 3 | Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 8.08% | 2.19% | 2.19% |
| 4 | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 4.91% | 1.08% | 1.08% |
| 5 | Biogen, Inc. | 2.47% | 0.56% | 0.56% |
| 6 | Moderna, Inc. | 1.98% | 0.43% | 0.43% |
| 7 | Incyte Corp. | 1.75% | 0.33% | 0.33% |
| 8 | Bio-Techne Corp. | 0.86% | 0.19% | 0.19% |
| 9 | Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. | 0.84% | 0.19% | 0.19% |
Only in IBB
239 total- Argenx SE 3.76%
- Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 3.12%
- Natera, Inc. 2.89%
- Revolution Medicines, Inc. 2.78%
- Illumina, Inc. 2.07%
- Insmed, Inc. 1.78%
- BeOne Medicines Ltd. 1.77%
- United Therapeutics Corp. 1.73%
- Roivant Sciences Ltd. 1.43%
- Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. 1.30%
Only in XLV
51 total- Eli Lilly & Co 16.51%
- Johnson & Johnson 10.64%
- AbbVie Inc 7.74%
- UnitedHealth Group Inc 6.57%
- Merck & Co Inc 5.52%
- Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc 3.24%
- Abbott Laboratories 2.75%
- Intuitive Surgical Inc 2.45%
- Pfizer Inc 2.39%
- CVS Health Corp 2.30%
Related comparisons
More comparisons with IBB
- IBB vs IXJ · iShares Global Healthcare ETF 8.3%
- IBB vs IHF · iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF 0.1%
- IBB vs IHI · iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF 0.1%
- IBB vs VGT · Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares 0.0%
- IBB vs XLK · State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF 0.0%
- IBB vs XBI · State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF 41.6%
More comparisons with XLV
- XLV vs XBI · State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF 6.3%
- XLV vs VGT · Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF Shares 0.0%
- XLV vs XLK · State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF 0.0%
- XLV vs VHT · Vanguard Health Care Index Fund ETF Shares 85.4%
- XLV vs FHLC · Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF 85.0%
- XLV vs IXJ · iShares Global Healthcare ETF 70.9%
Percentages are holdings overlap with the named fund.
Open IBB or XLV at a brokerage
Both funds trade commission-free at major US brokerages.
Affiliate links — opening an account through these earns PlainIndex a one-time referral. Scoring is computed before any affiliate consideration; see our methodology and funding disclosure.
Holdings overlap is the sum of min(weight_a, weight_b) over positions
matched on ISIN (CUSIP fallback). Methodology: see
/methodology/.
Comparing two funds doesn't endorse swapping one for the other. Tax-lot history, account type, and personal goals matter — PlainIndex publishes data and methodology, not investment advice.