# How Vertiv (VRT) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/vrt
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on VRT alone. It places VRT (Vertiv Holdings Co) against 20+ popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where VRT stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: VRT's full trading record, from July 2018 through September 2026. The crash tests reach back to 2000 using older funds and the S&P 500. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** VRT has gone against the market, falling 35.2% over the past 6 months while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. VRT is 45.9% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Stock or market?:** The weakness is VRT's own: it fell 30.2% over the past 3 months while the electrical equipment ETF XLI (State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF) fell 6.1%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its electrical equipment peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: JCI (Johnson Controls International) rose 6.4%, while MOD (Modine Manufacturing) fell 35.6%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** VRT finished ahead of the S&P 500 in both 2024 and 2025. It took 14 months for VRT to win back the 71.2% it lost from September 2021 to June 2022. the S&P 500 fell 15.6% over those same dates.
- **Long term:** Over the past 5 years, VRT returned 54.2% a year against 12.7% a year for the S&P 500 (772% in total against 81.7%). VRT's 5-year return of 772% puts it ahead of 99% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 81.7%.
- **In a crash:** The 2022 bear market took 65.7% off VRT, against 24.5% for the S&P 500, and more than electrical equipment peers such as ETN (Eaton, 26.2%). VRT fell further than the S&P 500 in three of the last three sell-offs, including the 2022 bear market (65.7% against 24.5%).
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, VRT has a correlation of 0.50 over 5 years, more closely than 74% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is some diversification, but not a hedge. Over 5 years, VRT's beta versus the S&P 500 was 2.03: in the S&P 500's rising months it gained about twice as much as the index, and in falling months it lost 75% as much.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** NVDA (NVIDIA) earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years: 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%.
  - **Nearby categories and themes:** FIX (Comfort Systems USA, engineering & construction) and IESC (IES, engineering & construction) earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years. FIX returned 77.0% a year at 46.7% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%.
  - **Whole market:** Few investments have done better on both counts: only 15 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA (NVIDIA), MU (Micron Technology) and STX (Seagate Technology).

## How much would $10,000 in VRT have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in VRT over the past 8 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of VRT over the same span and VRT's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in VRT at the end of September 2018 would have grown to $248,792 by September 2026, more than the $29,568 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Six of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of VRT, and STRL finished highest, at $343,410.

## VRT at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- VRT is still 45.9% below its all-time high.
- VRT's deepest decline since it began trading in 2018 was 71.2%, from September 2021 to June 2022. It took 14 months from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over seven full calendar years, VRT's best was 2023, when it returned 252%, and its worst was 2022, when it lost 45.3%. It lost money in one of those years.

- Type: Stock, Industrials (Electrical Equipment & Parts)
- Trading since: July 30, 2018
- Market value: $78B
- Volatility (5 years): 64.2%; Sharpe ratio: 1.01
- Worst decline ever: −71.3%, from September 2, 2021 to June 30, 2022; back at its high by August 2, 2023

| Period | VRT total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −18.9% |
| 3 months | −30.2% |
| 6 months | −35.2% |
| year to date | +16.0% |
| 1 year | +16.0% |
| 3 years | +456% |
| 5 years | +772% |

## VRT against the whole market

Where VRT ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does VRT rank among all stocks?

This section ranks VRT on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- VRT's 5-year return ranks in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million with 5 years of history.
- VRT is among the more volatile stocks: its price swings rank in the bottom 18% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million, where the top is the calmest.

| Measure | VRT | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +16.0% | 1,368 of 3,287 (top 42%) |
| 3-year return | +456% | 119 of 3,017 (top 4%) |
| 5-year return | +772% | 31 of 2,893 (top 2%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 64.2% | 2,385 of 2,893 (top 83%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.01 | 94 of 2,893 (top 4%) |

### What has beaten VRT on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- 15 stocks worth at least $500 million sit in the green region: each earned more than VRT over the past 5 years with smaller price swings. That is fewer than 1% of the 3,633 screened. Few investments beat it on both counts.
- Among those with at least half VRT's swings, CLS has the best return for its risk: 101% a year at 59.7% volatility, 7% less than VRT's 64.2%, and a Sharpe ratio (return above cash per unit of volatility) of 1.47 against 1.01 for VRT.
- Among VRT's popular alternatives, NVDA is in the region. NVDA earned 58.0% a year against 54.2% a year for VRT, at 51.9% volatility, 19% less than VRT's 64.2%.

### Is there a better investment than VRT?

The table below lists investments that beat VRT over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among VRT's popular alternatives, NVDA earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years: 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%.
- Looking beyond its popular alternatives, FIX (engineering & construction) and IESC (engineering & construction) earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years. FIX returned 77.0% a year at 46.7% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%.
- Few investments have done better on both counts: only 15 of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years, among them NVDA, MU and STX.

The 15 strongest of 15 investments that beat VRT over the past 5 years, out of 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million.

| Investment | Group | Annual return (5 years) | Volatility | Sharpe | Worst decline (10 years) | 5Y return | Correlation with VRT | Better on |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VRT: Vertiv Holdings Co (this page) |  | +54.2% | 64.2% | 1.01 | −71.3% | +772% |  |  |
| [MU](https://easycompare.io/research/mu): Micron Technology, Inc. | Semiconductors | +68.1% | 57.1% | 1.20 | −57.6% | +1,244% | 0.28 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [FIX](https://easycompare.io/research/fix): Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | Engineering & Construction | +77.0% | 46.7% | 1.46 | −49.7% | +1,636% | 0.69 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [STX](https://easycompare.io/research/stx): Seagate Technology Holdings plc | Computer Hardware | +57.4% | 48.7% | 1.18 | −57.0% | +866% | 0.37 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline; Higher return in most periods |
| [CLS](https://easycompare.io/research/cls): Celestica Inc. | Electronics Manufacturing | +101% | 59.7% | 1.47 | −80.6% | +3,143% | 0.52 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher return in most periods |
| CRS: Carpenter Technology Corporation | Metals & Mining | +63.9% | 46.5% | 1.30 | −74.7% | +1,082% | 0.34 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher return in most periods |
| INSW: International Seaways, Inc. | Oil & Gas | +56.5% | 40.5% | 1.31 | −57.4% | +839% | 0.12 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline |
| IESC: IES Holdings, Inc. | Engineering & Construction | +58.5% | 58.0% | 1.09 | −54.3% | +900% | 0.66 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher return in most periods |
| STRL: Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. | Engineering & Construction | +78.4% | 60.0% | 1.26 | −59.6% | +1,708% | 0.54 | Higher return, lower volatility; Higher Sharpe, smaller worst decline |
| ATI: ATI Inc. | Metals & Mining | +61.8% | 42.9% | 1.34 | −82.4% | +1,008% | 0.24 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| BELFB: Bel Fuse Inc. | Hardware, Equipment & Parts | +78.0% | 52.1% | 1.37 | −79.8% | +1,688% | 0.41 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | Semiconductors | +58.0% | 51.9% | 1.14 | −66.3% | +884% | 0.44 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| YPF: YPF Sociedad Anónima | Integrated Oil & Gas | +60.7% | 54.1% | 1.14 | −90.1% | +971% | 0.20 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| VIST: Vista Energy, S.A.B. de C.V. | Exploration & Production | +59.1% | 50.7% | 1.17 | −81.2% | +920% | 0.21 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| BWLP: BW LPG Limited | Marine Shipping | +60.3% | 50.9% | 1.19 | −68.8% | +958% | 0.22 | Higher return, lower volatility |
| ADMA: ADMA Biologics, Inc. | Biotechnology | +58.9% | 59.2% | 1.08 | −84.1% | +912% | 0.04 | Higher return, lower volatility |

## VRT against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against VRT, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do VRT's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- Only MOD and NVDA were both more rewarding and calmer than VRT over the past 5 years, earning a higher annual return with lower volatility.
- Over the past 5 years, VRT returned 54.2% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (64.2% against 17.1%).

### Has VRT consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares VRT with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over seven periods from one month to five years.

- POWL outperformed VRT in every long-term period and in all but one short-term period, the most consistent record in the group.
- Only one of the 20 popular alternatives, POWL, outperformed VRT in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes.
- POWL, NVDA and ANET earned more for the risk they took than VRT (a higher Sharpe ratio) and fell less in their worst decline of the past 10 years.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | Periods ahead of VRT | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VRT: Vertiv Holdings Co (this page) | +16.0% | +456% | +772% |  |  | 1.01 |
| POWL: Powell Industries, Inc. | +42.0% | +578% | +2,240% | 5/5 short-term, 2/2 long-term | all-weather | 1.27 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | +18.8% | +425% | +884% | 4/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| SMCI: Super Micro Computer, Inc. | −41.0% | +30.6% | +817% | 2/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 0.94 |
| MOD: Modine Manufacturing Company | −7.0% | +260% | +1,127% | 0/5 short-term, 1/2 long-term |  | 1.13 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | +23.7% | +289% | +634% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 1.06 |
| NVT: nVent Electric plc | +40.0% | +203% | +356% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.99 |
| [JCI](https://easycompare.io/research/jci): Johnson Controls International plc | +35.4% | +220% | +123% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.70 |
| [AME](https://easycompare.io/research/ame): AMETEK, Inc. | +32.8% | +78.1% | +96.1% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.72 |
| [EMR](https://easycompare.io/research/emr): Emerson Electric Co. | +25.0% | +84.9% | +82.1% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.57 |
| [EQIX](https://easycompare.io/research/eqix): Equinix, Inc. | +22.2% | +49.1% | +37.4% | 5/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.37 |
| [TT](https://easycompare.io/research/tt): Trane Technologies plc | +11.3% | +154% | +178% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.88 |
| [ETN](https://easycompare.io/research/etn): Eaton Corporation plc | +2.3% | +104% | +153% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.74 |
| [CMI](https://easycompare.io/research/cmi): Cummins Inc. | +31.4% | +160% | +148% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.77 |
| [ROK](https://easycompare.io/research/rok): Rockwell Automation, Inc. | +22.9% | +68.9% | +45.6% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.40 |
| GNRC: Generac Holdings Inc. | −0.6% | +120% | −57.5% | 4/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | -0.04 |
| HUBB: Hubbell Incorporated | +7.7% | +70.6% | +159% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.79 |
| LECO: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. | +10.0% | +57.7% | +93.5% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.62 |
| AAON: AAON, Inc. | −26.5% | +40.8% | +61.2% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.44 |
| [DLR](https://easycompare.io/research/dlr): Digital Realty Trust, Inc. | +4.3% | +65.7% | +35.7% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.35 |
| [CARR](https://easycompare.io/research/carr): Carrier Global Corporation | −1.1% | +21.2% | +11.6% | 3/5 short-term, 0/2 long-term |  | 0.23 |

### How did VRT do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 2019, along with where VRT ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- VRT finished ahead of the S&P 500 in five of its seven full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last three.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, VRT finished in the top quarter in four of seven years and in the bottom quarter in two. In 2025, it ranked 5 of 21.
- Among its popular alternatives, POWL came out ahead of VRT most often, in four of the seven years both traded.

| Year | VRT | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +42.8% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +137% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +252% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | −45.3% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +33.8% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | +69.4% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +12.5% | +31.2% |

## Risk and diversification

How VRT has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were VRT's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all five of VRT's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: VRT fell 45.9% from May to October 2026, while the S&P 500 rose 3.3%.
- The longest climb back to a previous high took 14 months, after VRT fell 71.2% from September 2021 to June 2022.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −71.3% | September 2, 2021 | June 30, 2022 | August 2, 2023 | −15.6% | 2022 bear market |
| −61.3% | January 23, 2025 | April 4, 2025 | October 1, 2025 | −16.9% |  |
| −58.6% | February 19, 2020 | March 18, 2020 | June 2, 2020 | −29.1% | Covid crash |
| −45.9% | May 14, 2026 | October 20, 2026 | not yet | +3.3% |  |
| −36.7% | May 24, 2024 | August 7, 2024 | October 7, 2024 | −1.7% |  |

### How did VRT do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far VRT, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- VRT fell further than the S&P 500 in three of the four crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when VRT fell 65.7% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.
- Among its popular alternatives, CARR held up best, falling less than VRT in all two crashes they both traded through.
- VRT began trading after the 2008 financial crisis, but 16 of its popular alternatives lived through it. The mildest fall among them was AAON's 43.5%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500.

| Crash | Dates | VRT fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | not trading | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | not trading | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | not trading | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | not trading | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | not trading | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | not trading | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −3.4% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −58.6% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −65.7% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −12.2% | −3.4% |

### How closely does VRT move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 5 years, VRT captured 205% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 75% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 2.03. Its share of the market's gains was larger than its share of the losses.
- Only ANET had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than VRT's 2.73, out of 19 popular alternatives with the same record.
- POWL took just -0% of the S&P 500's losses, against 75% for VRT, while still keeping 234% of its gains.

Measured over the past 5 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| VRT: Vertiv Holdings Co (this page) | 205% | 75.0% | 2.03 |
| POWL: Powell Industries, Inc. | 234% | 0.0% | 1.15 |
| [NVDA](https://easycompare.io/research/nvda): NVIDIA Corporation | 259% | 152% | 2.21 |
| SMCI: Super Micro Computer, Inc. | 260% | 152% | 2.00 |
| MOD: Modine Manufacturing Company | 246% | 93.0% | 1.72 |
| [ANET](https://easycompare.io/research/anet): Arista Networks, Inc. | 191% | 58.0% | 1.60 |
| NVT: nVent Electric plc | 153% | 66.0% | 1.35 |
| [JCI](https://easycompare.io/research/jci): Johnson Controls International plc | 111% | 91.0% | 1.27 |
| [AME](https://easycompare.io/research/ame): AMETEK, Inc. | 87.0% | 68.0% | 0.95 |
| [EMR](https://easycompare.io/research/emr): Emerson Electric Co. | 112% | 125% | 1.21 |
| [EQIX](https://easycompare.io/research/eqix): Equinix, Inc. | 79.0% | 100% | 0.98 |
| [TT](https://easycompare.io/research/tt): Trane Technologies plc | 99.0% | 52.0% | 1.15 |
| [ETN](https://easycompare.io/research/etn): Eaton Corporation plc | 104% | 47.0% | 1.13 |
| [CMI](https://easycompare.io/research/cmi): Cummins Inc. | 136% | 124% | 1.24 |
| [ROK](https://easycompare.io/research/rok): Rockwell Automation, Inc. | 104% | 127% | 1.50 |
| GNRC: Generac Holdings Inc. | 80.0% | 223% | 1.91 |
| HUBB: Hubbell Incorporated | 104% | 64.0% | 0.84 |
| LECO: Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. | 126% | 126% | 1.20 |
| AAON: AAON, Inc. | 111% | 116% | 1.40 |
| [DLR](https://easycompare.io/research/dlr): Digital Realty Trust, Inc. | 78.0% | 95.0% | 0.99 |
| [CARR](https://easycompare.io/research/carr): Carrier Global Corporation | 80.0% | 128% | 1.29 |

### What diversifies VRT?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in VRT into MCK would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 18% over the past 5 years for a small cut in its annual return (+58.7% for VRT alone, +58.5% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, LVHI, DXJ and FJAN have moved largely independently of VRT over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.47 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- In 2022, the one year VRT lost money (-45.3%), MPC returned +86.6%.

| Investment | Correlation with VRT | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in VRT's 1 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LVHI: Franklin International Low Volatility High Dividend Index ETF | 0.20 | +119% | 11.1% | 1.48 | 1 of 1 |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.41 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 1 of 1 |
| FJAN: FT Vest U.S. Equity Buffer ETF - January | 0.47 | +69.0% | 10.5% | 1.05 | 0 of 1 |
| EMLP: First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure Fund | 0.34 | +101% | 14.5% | 1.04 | 1 of 1 |
| HDV: iShares Core High Dividend ETF | 0.20 | +83.3% | 13.0% | 1.00 | 1 of 1 |
| FTLS: First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF | 0.38 | +62.9% | 10.4% | 0.99 | 0 of 1 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.47 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 0 of 1 |
| DBEF: Xtrackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | 0.43 | +85.0% | 13.8% | 0.96 | 0 of 1 |

## Common questions

### What was VRT's worst drawdown?

VRT's deepest decline since it began trading in 2018 was 71.2%, from September 2021 to June 2022. It took 14 months from the low to climb back to its old high. Because VRT launched in July 2018, that record does not include the dot-com bust, the 2008 financial crisis or four other sell-offs.

### What were VRT's best and worst years?

Over seven full calendar years, VRT's best year was 2023, when it returned 252%. Its worst was 2022, with a return of -45.3%.

### Is there a better investment than VRT?

Among VRT's popular alternatives, NVDA earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years: 58.0% a year at 51.9% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%. Looking beyond its popular alternatives, FIX (engineering & construction) and IESC (engineering & construction) earned more than VRT with less volatility over the past 5 years. FIX returned 77.0% a year at 46.7% volatility, against 54.2% a year at 64.2%.

### Is VRT more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. VRT's volatility over the past 5 years was 64.2%, 3.7 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, VRT's return lands within 64.2% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is VRT's Sharpe ratio?

VRT's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.01, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so VRT earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is VRT with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, VRT's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.50 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against VRT instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a VRT holding.

### What are the best alternatives to VRT?

Of the 20 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed VRT in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 2 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: POWL.

### Did VRT outperform the S&P 500?

VRT finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in five of seven full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +42.8%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did VRT do in stock market crashes?

VRT fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in one of the four major crashes it has traded through, and further in three. The clearest case was the 2022 bear market, when VRT fell 65.7% and the S&P 500 fell 24.5%.

### What diversifies VRT?

These had a low correlation with VRT over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, LVHI (correlation 0.20), DXJ (correlation 0.41) and FJAN (correlation 0.47); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.26), MCK (correlation 0.16) and MPC (correlation 0.12). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/vrt
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against VRT live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=VRT&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research