Launched on 09/23/2015, the FlexShares US Quality Large Cap ETF (QLC) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Flexshares. It has amassed assets over $1.04 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. QLC, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Large Cap Index.
The Northern Trust Quality Large Cap Index is designed to measure the performance of a universe of large capitalization securities which demonstrate characteristics of better quality, attractive valuation and positive momentum.
Cost & Other Expenses
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.25% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.91%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
QLC's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 36.9% of the portfolio. Its Financials and Telecom round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL) accounts for about 7.02% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp Common Stock Usd 0.001 (NVDA) and Alphabet Inc-cl A - Common Stock Usd 0.001 (GOOGL).
The top 10 holdings account for about 36.14% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 15.2% so far this year and it's up approximately 28.13% in the last one year (as of 08/12/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $73.38 and $93.40
The ETF has a beta of 0.99 and standard deviation of 14.88% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 181 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
FlexShares US Quality Large Cap ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $901.24 billion in assets, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares has $1030.04 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VOO changes 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Blend
Bottom Line
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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FlexShares US Quality Large Cap ETF (QLC): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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