Active equity investments

Connect your clients to world-class investment talent at a low cost.

View new active equity ETFs

active edge

Active equity strategies can play a powerful role alongside indexing in building portfolios that meet your clients’ goals. Vanguard’s track record proves it: our actively managed equity funds and ETFs have delivered long-term outperformance over both benchmarks and peers.

Active from the start

Active management has been part of our story since day one. We began in 1975 as an active-only fund provider—and our commitment to active investing remains strong. Today, we’re the world’s third-largest active manager, with $1.8 trillion in active strategies, including more than $760 billion in active equity and balanced funds.1 

Active management—it’s in our DNA

50

Years offering active equity

3rd

Largest active equity provider

11

Active funds offered at our founding


Source: Vanguard, using Morningstar data, as of September 30, 2025.
 

Explore our active equity funds and ETFs

 

Our active equity advantage

Top talent

Vanguard’s dedicated manager search team scours the globe for world-class managers. With the flexibility to engage external managers, we broaden our access to talent—allowing us to match the right managers to each strategy.

Over time, we’ve built lasting partnerships with more than 20 leading external managers, who have an average tenure with us of more than 15 years.  Our global scale and strong reputation make us an attractive partner for top-tier investment firms.

We maintain long-term partnerships with leading global managers
 

  • Wellington Management Company
  • PRIMECAP Management Company
  • Donald Smith & Co.
  • Jennison Associates
  • Sanders Capital
  • ARGA Investment Management
  • ArrowMark Partners
  • Ariel Investments
  • Sprucegrove Investment Management
     
  • Schroder Investment Management 
North America 
  • Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group 
  • Baillie Gifford Overseas 
  • Pzena Investment Management 
  • Frontier Capital Management 
  • D. E. Shaw Investment Management 
  • Stephens Investment Management Group 
  • Ninety One North America
     
  • Aristotle Capital Management 
  • Vanguard Fixed Income Group 
  • Hotchkis & Wiley 
  • Lazard Asset Management 
  • Los Angeles Capital Management 
  • ClearBridge Investments 
  • Cooke & Bieler
     


Source: Vanguard, as of August 30, 2025.

Quote Our edge comes down to top talent at a low cost. Combine that with our long-term outlook and the deep resources we dedicate to evaluating managers-it's been a proven recipe for success. Matt Piro, Head of Oversight and Manager Search

 

 

Low costs

Our cost advantage lowers the hurdle for active success and lets more of any return accrue for your clients. Vanguard’s average active equity fund expense ratio is just 27 basis points (bps)—that’s roughly 44 bps below industry levels on an asset-weighted basis and cheaper than 97% of all active equity funds and ETFs.2

Our consistent low costs help improve the odds of active success

Vanguard asset weighted expense ratios versus the industry

Bar chart comparing asset-weighted average expense ratios (in basis points) between Vanguard active equity funds and industry active equity funds across various equity asset categories. The y-axis ranges from 0 to 100 basis points. Each category on the x-axis features two bars: one representing Vanguard and one representing the industry average. Vanguard fund expense ratios consistently fall in the 20 to 30 basis-points range, while industry funds fall in the 60 to 80 basis-point range. The chart also shows the difference in basis points between Vanguard and the industry for each fund category as follows: · International/Global: Vanguard 37 bps lower · Value (small, mid, large): Vanguard 39 bps lower · Growth (small, mid, large): Vanguard 37 bps lower · Core (small, mid, large): Vanguard 38 bps lower · Small cap: Vanguard 43 bps lower · Mid cap: Vanguard 52 bps lower · Large cap: Vanguard 38 bps lower · U.S. Equity (overall): Vanguard 38 bps lower

Sources: Vanguard, using data from Morningstar, as of December 31, 2024. Industry averages exclude Vanguard funds.

 

Long-term outperformance

Our active equity funds have delivered net outperformance, while the broader industry has seen flat or negative results.

Infographic displaying two prominent numbers that highlight Vanguard’s strong active equity track record, achieved through a combination of top investment talent and low costs: · 85% of our active equity funds outperformed peers over 10 years · 94% bps higher than competing fund average (net annualized)

 

 

 

investment options

Explore our active equity funds and ETFs

Meet your clients’ active equity needs with confidence. Our diverse lineup of single- and multimanager active funds and ETFs spans strategies, styles, sizes, and regions—giving you flexibility to build portfolios that fit your clients’ goals and preferences.

 

New ETFs

New fundamental active equity ETFs from Vanguard and Wellington Management

Where performance meets trusted value

In active investing, performance is essential—but true progress comes from combining performance with value. As the next chapter of our 50-year partnership, we’re uniting Wellington’s nearly 100 years of active management expertise with Vanguard’s scale and cost-efficient ETF design.

Powerful sum of expertise

The new ETFs deliver the strength of a decades-long partnership—combining Wellington’s experience managing more than $1 trillion in active assets5 with Vanguard’s leadership as one of the largest ETF providers.

Designed for endurance

The ETFs are designed to serve as long-term allocations—built on proven strategies, managed by experienced teams, and delivered with the low cost, tax efficiency, and transparency that you and your clients expect.

Client-focused commitment

Both Vanguard and Wellington are structured to prioritize the investors in our funds—not outside shareholders. This enables us to put their interests first and stay focused on delivering long-term value.

VIDEOS

Link to 50 years of partnership video

50 years of partnership

Hear Vanguard President and CIO Greg Davis and Wellington CEO Jean Hynes discuss the new ETFs, our enduring partnership, and a shared commitment to active management.

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Watch the portfolio managers discuss the ETFs’ objectives, strategies, and potential uses within a portfolio.

 

VUSV: An opportunistic value ETF

VUSV seeks outperformance by focusing on stocks that the market may have mispriced. Hear more about the ETF’s strategy and potential role in a portfolio from Wellington Portfolio Manager David Palmer.

Play video
VUSG: An innovation-focused growth ETF

VUSG seeks outperformance by employing a high-growth strategy centered on innovative companies across sectors. Hear more about the ETF’s strategy and potential role in a portfolio from Wellington Portfolio Managers Michael Masdea and Brian Barbetta.

Play video
VDIG: A concentrated dividend growth ETF

VDIG seeks outperformance by employing a defensive strategy centered on high-quality companies committed to shareholder return. Hear more about the ETF’s strategy and potential role in a portfolio from Wellington Portfolio Manager Peter Fisher.

Play video

insights

Active equity insights

Explore perspectives and research that can help you navigate shifting markets, build portfolios, and strengthen client conversations.

 

Have questions about active equity? Contact us.

800-997-2798

Disclosures and footnotes

1 Vanguard, using Morningstar data, as of September 30, 2025.

2 Vanguard, using Morningstar data, as of December 31, 2024. Industry-wide data includes U.S.-domiciled active equity funds and ETFs, excluding funds-of-funds.

3 LSEG Lipper, as of September 30, 2025. For the ten-year period, 33 out 39 Vanguard active equity funds outperformed their peer group averages. Results will vary for other time periods. Only funds with a minimum ten-year history were included in the comparison.

The performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate, so investors’ shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data cited. For performance data current to the most recent month-end, visit our website at vanguard.com/performance. The performance of an index is not an exact representation of any particular investment, as you cannot invest directly in an index.

4 Vanguard calculations, using data from Morningstar, Inc. The performance of each Vanguard and non-Vanguard fund was compared with that of its benchmark as defined by Morningstar using monthly return data ended December 31, 2024.  The monthly returns for all Vanguard active equity funds, including those that were merged or liquidated during the period, were included in the performance calculations. The active equity portions of Vanguard balanced funds were excluded. Annualized asset-weighted excess returns were generated by calculating the asset-weighted cross-section monthly returns and then generating a time series set of returns. All fund performance data are net of fund expense ratios. Cost advantage is measured as the asset-weighted expense ratio differential between Vanguard and non-Vanguard equity funds used in the analysis.

The performance data shown represent past performance, which is not a guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal value will fluctuate, so investors’ shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data cited. For performance data current to the most recent month-end, visit our website at vanguard.com/performance. The performance of an index is not an exact representation of any particular investment, as you cannot invest directly in an index.

5 Wellington Management Company, as of September 30, 2025.

For more information about Vanguard funds or Vanguard ETFs, visit advisors.vanguard.com to obtain a prospectus or, if available, a summary prospectus. Investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses, and other important information are contained in the prospectus; read and consider it carefully before investing. 

Vanguard ETF Shares are not redeemable with the issuing Fund other than in very large aggregations worth millions of dollars. Instead, investors must buy and sell Vanguard ETF Shares in the secondary market and hold those shares in a brokerage account. In doing so, the investor may incur brokerage commissions and may pay more than net asset value when buying and receive less than net asset value when selling.

All investing is subject to risk, including possible loss of principal.

Investments in stocks issued by non-U.S. companies are subject to risks including country/regional risk and currency risk.

Prices of mid- and small-cap stocks often fluctuate more than those of large-company stocks.

The Factor Funds are subject to investment style risk, which is the chance that returns from the types of stocks in which a Factor Fund invests will trail returns from U.S. stock markets. The Factor Funds are also subject to manager risk, which is the chance that poor security selection will cause a Factor Fund to underperform its relevant benchmark or other funds with a similar investment objective, and sector risk, which is the chance that significant problems will affect a particular sector in which a Factor Fund invests, or that returns from that sector will trail returns from the overall stock market.