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Should State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth ETF (MDYG) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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The State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth ETF (MDYG - Free Report) was launched on November 8, 2005, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $2.81 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Growth

Compared to large and small cap companies, mid cap businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and are less volatile, respectively, with market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. Thus, companies that fall under this category provide a stable and growth-heavy investment.

While growth stocks do boast higher than average sales and earnings growth rates, and they are expected to grow faster than the wider market, investors should note these kinds of stocks have higher valuations. Further, growth stocks have a higher level of volatility associated with them. Even though growth stocks are more likely to outperform their value counterparts in strong bull markets, value stocks have a record of delivering better returns in almost all markets than growth stocks.

Costs

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 0.15%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.68%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Industrials sector -- about 27.8% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Okta Inc (OKTA) accounts for about 2.05% of total assets, followed by Nvent Electric Plc (NVT) and Technipfmc Plc (FTI).

The top 10 holdings account for about 13.82% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

MDYG seeks to match the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index measures the performance of the mid-capitalization growth sector in the U.S. equity market.

The ETF return is roughly 13.11% so far this year and is up about 14.87% in the last one year (as of 10/15/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $87.24 and $113.69.

The ETF has a beta of 1.06 and standard deviation of 18.65% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 249 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

State Street SPDR S&P 400 Mid Cap Growth ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, MDYG is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) track a similar index. While Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.05 billion in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.16 billion. VOT has an expense ratio of 0.05% and IWP charges 0.23%.

Bottom-Line

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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