Vanguard Large‑Cap Growth VUG and Small‑Cap VBK Offer Different Bets on Growth
The choice matters because the funds trade off concentration, volatility, and capacity in ways that change returns and risk for investors.
Overview
- Recent fund snapshots show a one‑year edge for small‑cap VBK with a 35.50% trailing 12‑month total return versus 31.70% for VUG, but VUG has outpaced VBK over the past five years in cumulative growth.
- VUG is heavily concentrated in about 160 mega‑cap names, with roughly 54% in technology and top positions in NVIDIA, Apple, and Microsoft, which raises sensitivity to a few companies' moves.
- VBK holds more than 550 small‑cap growth stocks, spreads weight more evenly across sectors such as industrials and tech, and so reduces single‑name risk at the cost of higher volatility and a higher beta.
- Cost and scale differ: VUG charges about a 0.03% expense ratio and manages roughly $365 billion, while VBK charges about 0.05% and manages roughly $42.8 billion, a gap that affects liquidity and capacity for large trades.
- Reported dividend figures in the coverage conflict with each other, so investors should verify yield and trailing distribution amounts using Vanguard’s official fund documents before drawing income conclusions.