ETF Showdown: Grasping For Growth (VUG, IVW, AAPL)

So many growth ETFs, so little time. These days, many growth ETFs are delivering solid returns to investors and with this corner of the ETF universe so densely populated, it might just be easier for investors to focus on two simple factors before making a decision: The fund's expense ratio and its allocation to Apple AAPL. Those two factors set us up nicely for an interesting ETF Showdown between the Vanguard Growth ETF VUG, one of the largest and cheapest growth ETFs, and the iShares S&P 500 Growth Index Fund IVW, which is no shrinking violet. For those that like ETFs that are home to a lot of stocks, either VUG or IVW will do. The Vanguard offering is home to about 480 stocks while nearly 280 populate IVW. With VUG, that means a 30.4% exposure to tech stocks. Consumer discretionary names check in at almost 18% while industrials and staples are the only other sectors to receive double-digit allocations in the ETF. IVW is a tad more conservative in its sector allocations as tech comes in at 27% and health care and staples combine for another 28%. Energy and industrials also land double-digit allocations. IVW's top-10 holdings represent almost 30% of the ETF's weight while that number falls to just under 26% with VUG. Apple is the largest holding in both ETFs, though the tech darling lands a 7.1% allocation in IVW compared to just over 6.1% in VUG. Dow components Coca-Cola KO, International Business Machines IBM and Microsoft MSFT are found among the top-10 holdings of both ETFs as is Google GOOG. For those that just love analyst ratings, it's worth noting S&P Capital IQ recently rated IVW “overweight” while touting the ETF's exposure to high quality tech names. Both ETFs have betas that hover around one, so that factor won't help us declare a winner. At the start of trading today, both ETF's were sitting near new 52-week highs, but VUG was up about 3% more year-to-date and that's with a lower weight to Apple. So if you want more 1% more Apple, go with IVW. If you want lower fees (0.18% for IVW and 0.12% for VUG) and more tech exposure overall, go with VUG. As for our winner, we're going to lean with VUG due to the recent outperformance and lower expense ratio.