What do the MVR and SFY ETFs do?
The VanEck MVR ETF provides focused exposure to the Australian resources sector, which is a significant part of the Australian economy. This is a low-cost way to invest in the Australian resources industry through a single fund.
The SPDR SFY ETF is the only Australian ETF providing exposure to Australia’s top 50 listed companies, by market capitalisation. SFY provides a low-cost way to invest in the ASX’s top 50 companies through a single fund.
If you like the look of the MVR ETF, check out our free MVR ETF report.
One of the easy ways we compare ETFs such as SFY and MVR at Best ETFs and Rask Australia is by analysing the fees and costs of an ETF. Internally, we score ETFs based on management fees, plus indirect costs and we take into account the buy-sell spread. We like to look at the ‘all-in’ costs of buying and owning an ETF.
We’ll keep it simple and just study the fees. Based on our data for July 2022, the MVR ETF has a management expense ratio (MER) of 0.35% while the SFY ETF’s yearly fee was 0.29%. Therefore, SFY wins on this one. That said, a more useful metric to know is the fee quartiles that these ETFs find themselves in (note: quartile 1 is best). For example, any ETF which has a fee below 0.3% would be considered in our first (best) quartile.
Performance analysis
Performance is important. Keep in mind, performance isn’t everything — and past performance is not indicative of future performance. It’s just one part of a much bigger picture. The reason we say performance is not everything is because of volatility of financial markets and the economy from one year to the next. Some ETFs and funds can put in a good return one year just to generate poor returns the next time around. That’s why we prefer three-year or seven-year track records over one-year track records. It can smooth out the temporary performances caused by external factors. Both ETFs have achieved our three-year performance hurdle. As of July 2022, the MVR ETF had an average annual return of 7.51%. During the same time, the SFY ETF returned 5.91%.
Finally, at Best ETFs Australia, we apply a rating to the ETF issuer or provider. That is, the company that starts and is responsible for operating the ETF on the ASX. There are too many considerations that go into our scoring to detail here. The issuer of MVR is Vaneck. VanEck ranks highly for our scores of ETF providers and issuers in Australia. Our team considers VanEck to be one of Australia’s leading providers of specialised ETFs and funds for retail investors and advisers.
Best ETFs Takeaway
To keep reading about these two ETFs, be sure to visit our free MVR ETF report or SFY ETF review.
In summary, the SFY ETF ranks better against our internal scoring methodology but not by much compared to MVR.
Please, keep in mind, there is much more to picking a good ETF. That’s why you should now use these skills to find the best ETF you can. If you want the name of our team’s top ETF pick for 2023, keep reading…
