If you're interested in broad exposure to the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, look no further than the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on December 11, 2009.
The fund is sponsored by Charles Schwab. It has amassed assets over $62.83 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Large Cap Growth
Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. Overall, they are usually a stable option, with less risk and more sure-fire cash flows than mid and small cap companies.
Growth stocks have higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. While these are expected to grow faster than the broader market, they also have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. When you consider growth versus value, growth stocks are usually the clear winner in strong bull markets but tend to fall flat in nearly all other environments.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.04%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.37%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector -- about 46.1% of the portfolio. Telecom and Consumer Discretionary round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 10.51% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT).
The top 10 holdings account for about 51.5% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
SCHG seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index before fees and expenses. The Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index is float-adjusted market-capitalization weighted and includes the large-cap growth portion of the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index.
The ETF has added roughly 9.14% so far this year and was up about 15.78% in the last one year (as of 09/08/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $28.10 and $35.94.
The ETF has a beta of 1.19 and standard deviation of 19.12% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 197 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, SCHG is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF (VUG) and the Invesco QQQ (QQQ) track a similar index. While Vanguard Morningstar Growth ETF has $227.51 billion in assets, Invesco QQQ has $489.99 billion. VUG has an expense ratio of 0.03% and QQQ charges 0.18%.
Bottom-Line
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).