QQQ vs SPY Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
QQQ and SPY are both large, liquid US equity ETFs but with fundamentally different sector composition. QQQ is Nasdaq-100 heavy technology — no financials, maximum mega-cap tech. SPY is the broad S&P 500 across all sectors including financials. QQQ has significantly outperformed SPY over the past 15 years but carries more concentration risk. SPY provides broader sector diversification at slightly lower cost.
QQQ vs SPY is maximum technology concentration in the Nasdaq-100 growth companies (QQQ) versus broad-based S&P 500 sector diversification including financials (SPY) — QQQ wins in technology bull markets; SPY wins when financials, energy, or other sectors outperform; both are core US equity holdings for different investor risk preferences.
SPY holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. QQQ has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+21.77% vs +16.58% for SPY).
- prefer deliberate technology and growth company overweight through the Nasdaq-100's top 100 non-financial companies
- value QQQ's superior 15-year track record reflecting mega-cap technology's dominance of market returns in that period
- want maximum exposure to AI, cloud, semiconductor, and consumer internet companies in a single ETF
- are comfortable with 0.20% expense ratio, no financial sector exposure, and concentration risk when technology de-rates in rising rate environments
- prefer the world's most liquid and most-traded ETF tracking the S&P 500 — preferred for options strategies and institutional-scale trading
- value full sector diversification including financials (banks, insurance) that benefit in rising rate and steepening yield curve environments
- want the benchmark all professional investors and institutions use, enabling direct performance comparison to consensus market returns
- are comfortable with 0.0945% expense ratio (slightly higher than VOO for the same S&P 500 exposure) for the liquidity premium SPY provides
| Metric | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| ETF scorei | 81.0 | 79.0 |
| Latest closei | $721.45 | $761.69 |
| 1M returni | +0.75% | -0.71% |
| 6M returni | +24.24% | +18.04% |
| 1Y returni | +21.77% | +16.58% |
The ETF score weights long-term returns and risk-adjusted performance most heavily, but still rewards low expense ratios, larger fund size, and broader diversification — so it can favor low-cost, broad, mega-cap funds over smaller thematic or actively-managed funds even when the latter have delivered stronger returns.
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.24K (+22.4%) started 2025-09-18 | $11.82K (+18.2%) started 2025-09-18 |
| 5Y ago | $20.93K (+109.3%) started 2021-09-20 | $20.11K (+101.1%) started 2021-09-20 |
| 10Y ago | $70.75K (+607.5%) started 2016-09-19 | $49.6K (+396.0%) started 2016-09-19 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Expense ratioi | 0.18% | 0.09% |
| Total assets (AUM)i | $488.98B | $811.94B |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.42% | 0.98% |
| Trailing P/Ei | 29.41 | 24.61 |
| Betai | 1.24 | 1.02 |
| 52-week change | 21.77% | 16.58% |
| Metric | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y returni | +21.77% | +16.58% |
| 6M returni | +24.24% | +18.04% |
| 1M returni | +0.75% | -0.71% |
| 1Y Sharpe ratio | 0.87 | 0.91 |
| Betai | 1.24 | 1.02 |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.42% | 0.98% |
| 5Y CAGR | +15.24% | +13.43% |
Over the past year, QQQ and SPY have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.93), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +21.77% | +16.58% |
| CAGRi | +21.79% | +16.59% | |
| Volatilityi | 19.69% | 12.88% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.87 | 0.91 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.27 | 1.31 | |
| Max drawdowni | 11.96% | 8.88% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.21% | 1.84% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 3.15% | 1.45% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 4.00% | 2.14% | |
| Max daily dropi | 4.80% | 2.70% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 6.79% | 3.82% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +103.05% | +87.63% |
| CAGRi | +15.24% | +13.43% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.98% | 17.19% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.54 | 0.56 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.77 | 0.80 | |
| Max drawdowni | 35.12% | 24.50% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.21% | 1.84% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 9.18% | 5.57% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 13.59% | 8.45% | |
| Max daily dropi | 6.21% | 5.85% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.98% | 11.50% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +560.40% | +317.93% |
| CAGRi | +20.79% | +15.38% | |
| Volatilityi | 22.54% | 17.95% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.75 | 0.64 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.07 | 0.89 | |
| Max drawdowni | 35.12% | 33.72% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.21% | 1.84% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.23% | 4.31% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 10.38% | 7.16% | |
| Max daily dropi | 11.98% | 10.94% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 16.20% | 17.97% |
| Category | QQQ | SPY |
|---|---|---|
| Fund name | Invesco QQQ Trust | State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust |
| Type | ETF | ETF |
| Expense ratioi | 0.18% | 0.09% |
| Total assets (AUM)i | $488.98B | $811.94B |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.42% | 0.98% |
- Exceptional long-term performance — QQQ has outperformed the S&P 500 significantly over the past 15 years due to mega-cap technology dominance
- Technology and growth company concentration provides maximum exposure to the sector that has driven the majority of US equity market returns since 2010
- Nasdaq-100 rebalancing rules eliminate declining or delisted companies, maintaining quality within the technology growth universe
- World's most traded ETF by daily volume — the tightest bid-ask spreads and deepest options market of any US equity ETF
- Full sector diversification across 11 GICS sectors including financials (excluded from QQQ)
- S&P 500 is the most widely used institutional benchmark — SPY's performance is directly comparable to the benchmark most professional investors and institutions use
- 0.20% expense ratio is 17 basis points more than SPY (0.0945%) — meaningful cost difference on large portfolios
- Technology concentration means significant underperformance during rate-rising environments when growth stocks de-rate
- No financial sector exposure means QQQ misses bank and insurance company performance during periods when financials outperform (rising rate, steepening yield curve environments)
- 0.0945% expense ratio is higher than VOO (0.03%) for the same S&P 500 exposure — long-term buy-and-hold investors may prefer VOO
- Technology sector still 30%+ of S&P 500 weight — less technology-concentrated than QQQ but still technology-heavy relative to US GDP
- Large-cap only — no small or mid-cap exposure; full US market requires adding small-cap ETFs or switching to VTI/SCHB
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