Designed to provide broad exposure to the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market, the Vanguard Small-Cap Growth ETF (VBK) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 01/26/2004.
The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $18.54 billion, making it the largest ETFs attempting to match the Small Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
With more potential comes more risk, and small cap companies, with market capitalization below $2 billion, epitomizes this way of thinking.
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. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.
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 0.07%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.55%.
ETFs offer a diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk but it is still important to delve into a fund’s holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector–about 21.40% of the portfolio. Industrials and Healthcare round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Slcmt1142 accounts for about 1.25% of total assets, followed by Liberty Media Corp-Liberty Formula One (FWONK) and Natera Inc (NTRA).
VBK seeks to match the performance of the CRSP U.S. Small Cap Growth Index before fees and expenses. The CRSP U.S. Small Cap Growth Index measures the investment return of small-capitalization growth stocks.
The ETF has lost about -2.70% so far this year and was up about 10.04% in the last one year (as of 06/12/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $219.76 and $304.19.
The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 23.35% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 581 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.