Overview
The full US materials complex — chemicals, metals, construction materials and packaging, around 114 companies of every size.
Top Holdings
| Ticker | Holding | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| LIN | Linde plc | 12.4% |
| SHW | Sherwin-Williams | 5.1% |
| NEM | Newmont Corp. | 4.9% |
| FCX | Freeport-McMoRan | 4.6% |
| ECL | Ecolab Inc. | 4.2% |
| APD | Air Products & Chemicals | 3.9% |
| CTVA | Corteva Inc. | 3.6% |
| MLM | Martin Marietta | 3.3% |
| VMC | Vulcan Materials | 3.1% |
| NUE | Nucor Corp. | 2.7% |
Fund Details
Investment Thesis
Materials are the economy's ingredients list, and the commodity supercycle is finally reaching the processors: miners riding record gold and copper, aggregates feeding the construction boom, chemicals lagging as the cyclical caboose. VAW owns the whole chain down to the mid-caps for 0.09% — the domestic-equity way to hold the inflation-and-buildout trade.
Who It's For
Sector rotators positioning for the commodity cycle's equity leg, and allocators completing an 11-sector Vanguard lineup. XLB's fuller-spectrum, cheaper cousin.
10-Year History
| Year | Close | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $107.72 | -- |
| 2017 | $131.42 | +22.0% |
| 2018 | $109.08 | -17.0% |
| 2019 | $134.17 | +23.0% |
| 2020 | $159.66 | +19.0% |
| 2021 | $199.57 | +25.0% |
| 2022 | $173.63 | -13.0% |
| 2023 | $192.73 | +11.0% |
| 2024 | $192.73 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | $212.00 | +10.0% |
| Year | Yield |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.90% |
| 2017 | 1.70% |
| 2018 | 2.10% |
| 2019 | 1.90% |
| 2020 | 1.70% |
| 2021 | 1.40% |
| 2022 | 1.80% |
| 2023 | 1.80% |
| 2024 | 1.60% |
| 2025 | 1.50% |
| Year | AUM | % Chg |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $1.2B | -- |
| 2017 | $1.6B | +33.3% |
| 2018 | $1.7B | +6.3% |
| 2019 | $2B | +17.6% |
| 2020 | $2.4B | +20.0% |
| 2021 | $3.2B | +33.3% |
| 2022 | $2.8B | -12.5% |
| 2023 | $2.8B | +0.0% |
| 2024 | $2.7B | -3.6% |
| 2025 | $2.9B | +7.4% |
Price history from exchange data. Dividend yields from reported distributions; some earlier years are derived from total-return vs price-return data or are ETFHub estimates. AUM history is an ETFHub estimate modelled from current assets and annual returns (fund flows not reflected) and may differ from official fund records. Data as of October 2026.
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