Which Corporate Bond ETF Is the Better Buy: iShares’ LQD or State Street’s SPLB?
The iShares iBoxx $Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEMKT:LQD) offers higher liquidity and historical capital preservation, while the State Street SPDR Portfolio Long Term Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEMKT:SPLB) provides a lower-cost path to higher potential income yields.
Both ETFs provide exposure to investment-grade corporate debt, yet they serve different roles in a fixed-income strategy. While the SPDR fund focuses exclusively on long-term bonds with maturities of 10 years or more, the iShares fund tracks a broader liquid index of high-quality corporate issues. These differences in maturity and selection criteria significantly impact their performance during interest rate shifts and contribute to their contrasting risk profiles.
Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from monthly returns over the available fund history (up to five years). The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months. Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield.
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