These exchange-traded funds invest in U.S. companies with middling market capitalizations.
The cost-efficiency winner in this category is Vanguard Extended Market (VXF), which aims to track the entirety of the public U.S. company market minus the S&P 500. There are many itty-bitty companies in this universe, but enough mid-sized ones like Tesla and Twitter to make VXF more like a mid-cap than a small-cap portfolio.
More than a few of the 3,260 companies in VXF are sketchy-looking, at least to short-sellers, and Vanguard rakes in extra income by lending them the shares to short. The securities lending revenue, which goes to the fund’s shareholders, is more than Vanguard’s fee for running the operation. That’s how the fund ends up with a negative cost.
You can buy a either a widely diversified portfolio or one that leans to growth companies or to value companies. The mid-cap grouping includes four Best ETF Honor Roll funds.
Best ETFs: Mid-Cap Stocks
Diversified
| Ticker | Exchange-Traded Fund | Holding Cost1 | Liquidity Score2 | Assets ($bil) |
| VXF | Vanguard Extended Market* | -$28 | A | 6.0 |
| SPMD | SPDR Portfolio Mid Cap* | 16 | B | 0.6 |
| SCHM | Schwab US Mid-Cap | 53 | A | 4.4 |
| IJH | iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap | 56 | A | 45.5 |
| VO | Vanguard Mid-Cap | 78 | A | 22.5 |
| IVOO | Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 | 229 | B | 0.9 |
| IWR | iShares Russell Mid-Cap | 294 | A | 17.1 |
| MDY | SPDR S&P MidCap 400 | 389 | A+ | 20.0 |
| JKG | iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap | 400 | B | 0.8 |
| JPME | JPMorgan Divers Ret US Mid Cp Eq | 408 | C | 0.1 |
Growth stocks
| VOT | Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth* |
110 | B | 5.3 |
| MDYG | SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth | 226 | B | 1.1 |
| IVOG | Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth | 326 | B | 1.0 |
| IWP | iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth | 357 | A | 8.6 |
| IJK | iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth | 376 | B | 7.8 |
| JKH | iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth | 419 | C | 0.3 |
| RFG | PowerShares S&P MidCap 400 Pure Gr | 586 | C | 0.6 |
| PXMG | PowerShares Russell Midcap Pure Gr | 597 | D | 0.1 |
Value stocks
| VOE | Vanguard Mid-Cap Value* |
116 | A | 8.5 |
| MDYV | SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Value | 193 | B | 0.7 |
| IVOV | Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value | 316 | C | 0.7 |
| IJJ | iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value | 325 | B | 5.7 |
| IWS | iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value | 384 | A | 10.4 |
| JKI | iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value | 469 | B | 0.4 |
| PXMV | PowerShares Russell Midcap Pure Val | 574 | D | 0.05 |
*Best ETFs Honor Roll Member
1 Cumulative cost of holding a $10,000 position for a decade. Incorporates annual expense ratio, bid/ask spreads and cost offset from securities lending. 2Reflects bid/ask spreads and trading volume. A = easy to trade.
Data sources: Morningstar, Bloomberg, fund distributors.
