The Best Large-Value Funds and ETFs to Buy

Your portfolio might not be as diversified as you think.

The US market has been dominated by a group of mega-cap tech stocks known as the Magnificent Seven. These giants have delivered strong returns, but they come at the price of an ultraconcentrated market. Now that the top 10 US stocks account for over a third of the overall market, your portfolio probably leans toward growth characteristics even if you own index funds that are meant to be broadly diversified. As the rise of artificial intelligence continues to drive the returns of the largest companies in the US (and the world), you may want to consider investing in value names.

With these trends in mind, we take a look at the best large-value funds that our analysts cover. These are funds from highly respected asset managers that are poised to outperform in the future.

What Are Large-Value Funds?

Large-value portfolios invest primarily in large US stocks that are less expensive or growing more slowly than other large-cap stocks. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the US equity market are defined as large cap. Value is defined based on low valuations (low price ratios and high dividend yields) and slow growth (low growth rates for earnings, sales, book value, and cash flow).

The 23 Best Large-Value Funds and ETFs to Buy in 2026

To find the best large-value funds and exchange-traded funds to buy, we screened for the lowest-cost primary share classes earning a Morningstar Medalist Rating of Gold with 100% analyst coverage. All the funds and ETFs on the list fall into the large-value Morningstar Category and have at least $100 million in assets. All data is as of Dec. 12.

1. American Funds American Mutual Fund RMFGX
2. American Funds Washington Mutual Investors Fund RWMGX
3. Brandes US Value ETF BUSA
4. Capital Group Conservative Equity ETF CGCV
5. Capital Group Dividend Value ETF CGDV
6. Diamond Hill Large Cap Fund DHLYX
7. Dodge & Cox Stock Fund DOXGX
8. Fidelity Equity-Income K6 Fund FEKFX
9. Fidelity Series Large Cap Value Index Fund FIOOX
10. JPMorgan Equity Income Fund OIEJX
11. MFS Active Value ETF MFSV
12. MFS Value Fund MEIKX
13. Natixis Funds Trust II Oakmark Fund NOANX
14. Oakmark US Large Cap ETF OAKM
15. Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF SCHD
16. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF VYM
17. Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund VHYAX
18. Vanguard Russell 1000 Value ETF VONV
19. Vanguard Russell 1000 Value Index Fund VRVIX
20. Vanguard S&P 500 Value ETF VOOV
21. Vanguard S&P 500 Value Index Fund VSPVX
22. Vanguard Value ETF VTV
23. Vanguard Value Index Fund VVIAX

Because the screen was created with the lowest-cost share class for each fund, some may be listed with share classes that are not accessible to individual investors outside of retirement plans, or they may be aimed at institutional investors and require large minimum investments. The individual investor versions of those funds may carry higher fees, reducing returns to shareholders. In addition, Medalist Ratings may differ among the share classes of a fund.

Morningstar expects the highly rated large-value funds on this list to outperform their peers over a full market cycle. But even though all the funds on our list fall into the same category, they may practice different strategies, and therefore behave differently from each other. Investors need to do some homework to understand exactly what a particular fund invests in before buying.

Here’s a quick look at some standout picks from the best large-value funds and ETFs. Be sure to review a fund’s complete report for more details.

Capital Group Conservative Equity ETF

Morningstar assigns a High rating to the Capital Group Conservative Equity ETF management team and a High rating to its parent company Capital Group. The management team has an average of around two years with the fund. Over the past 12 months, the Capital Group fund rose 14.07%, while the average fund in its category rose 11.69%. The fund was launched in June 2024.

Seasoned investors steer Capital Group Conservative Value ETF’s risk-conscious approach, making it a solid long-term option.

This recently launched active exchange-traded fund has some of the same characteristics as Capital Group’s long-standing mutual funds (branded as American Funds) in that it shares the firm’s characteristic multimanager approach and is in the hands of veteran investors. Most of the firm’s ETFs are carved from a legacy vehicle, which its portfolio strategy management group uses as a base to parse into a more compact portfolio based on liquidity factors while ensuring the stylistic traits remain intact. This ETF references American Funds American Mutual and has the same manager lineup, an eight-person management team of industry veterans. While tenured manager James Terrile will step off both vehicles and retire from the firm on June 1, 2025, the remaining managers are well equipped to take over his allocation.

The mutual fund’s conservative approach can sometimes leave it out of step with market trends, but it has demonstrated value over the long term. It focuses on dividend-paying industry leaders. The mutual fund’s eligibility list, which contains around 300 companies, requires firms have an investment-grade credit rating and be industry leaders. This income-oriented approach has typically led it to land near the large-value and large-blend border of the Morningstar Style Box.

While this ETF launched in June 2024, it should display similar performance to its reference vehicle. That fund especially shines in market downturns. In the last 10 market declines of 10% or more, it has beaten its Russell 1000 Value Index Morningstar Category benchmark.

Similarly, the ETF shouldn’t be expected to shine in rallies, but it will likely be competitive over a cycle. From the early 2006 start date of the two longest-tenured managers through April 2025, American Funds American Mutual R6 shares’ 8.9% annualized gain trailed the S&P 500 prospectus benchmark’s 10.2% gain, but it beat the Russell 1000 Value Index’s 7.7%. It was about a fifth less volatile than both indexes, resulting in better risk-adjusted returns versus both indexes. Since the ETF’s late June 2024 inception through April 2025, it has slightly outperformed the mutual fund.

This ETF’s 0.33% net expense ratio places it among the large-value category’s cheapest active offerings, and its structure is more tax-advantaged than a mutual fund, making it a solid option.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Capital Group Conservative Equity ETF.

Dodge & Cox Stock Fund

Morningstar assigns a High rating to the Dodge & Cox Stock Fund management team and a High rating to its parent company Dodge & Cox. The management team has an average of around 13 years with the fund while David C. Hoeft, the longest-tenured member of the team, has been with the fund for nearly 24 years. Over the past 12 months, the Dodge & Cox fund rose 9.08%, while the average fund in its category rose 11.69%. The fund saw an annualized gain of 14.14% over the past three years.

Exceptional personnel and a proven, faithfully followed approach earn high marks for Dodge & Cox Stock and its related Irish UCITS offering, Dodge & Cox Worldwide US Stock.

The strategy has enviable personnel. Six veteran investors serve on the US equity investment committee, which manages these offerings, including chief investment officer David Hoeft and director of research Steven Voorhis. Its collectivized decision-making helps the strategy weather departures, even if they’re somewhat surprising. While most committee changes are announced well in advance, the resignation of Karol Marcin at the end of 2024 wasn’t. Yet, the committee’s depth and collaboration took the sting out of his departure—as they did when others left in the past. Behind the committee stands an impressive unit of global industry analysts whose extensive research is key to this strategy.

The process requires expert hands such as these. The strategy seeks an edge on out-of-favor, cheap stocks. Analysts scrutinize companies’ competitive strengths, growth opportunities, and leadership. They discuss firms’ merits first in specialized sector committees; promising prospects then go before the investment committee. The managers try to take advantage of what they believe are temporary troubles to buy and add to these stocks.

Such an approach courts risk. Dodge & Cox has improved its risk management in recent years, however, building tools to better understand portfolio traits and risks facing its holdings. Even so, the strategy’s returns are typically quite lumpy over short periods, but the managers’ calm conviction and the analysts’ vigilance often turn that volatility to investors’ advantage over time. The strategy has an impressive long-term record.

The Ireland-domiciled UCITS closely resembles but doesn’t exactly replicate Dodge & Cox Stock. The US mutual fund typically invests a bit in non-US stocks to which many overseas investors already have access. In response, the UCITS portfolio usually holds fewer non-US stocks and replaces others with similar US counterparts.

Dodge & Cox continues to deliver excellence for investors in this strategy.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Dodge & Cox Stock Fund.

Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund

The Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund is led by a management team with an Above Average People rating from Morningstar and an average tenure of around four years. Gerard C. O’Reilly stands out as the longest-serving manager, with close to 10 years of experience running the fund. Vanguard earns a Parent rating of High. The $84.5 billion fund has gained 14.79% over the past 12 months, while the average fund in its category is up 11.69%. The Vanguard fund, which launched in February 2019, has climbed an annualized 12.81% over the past three years and 13.12% over the past five years.

Vanguard High Dividend Yield strikes a nice balance between higher-yielding stocks and distressed yield traps. Its ability to manage risk should provide an advantage over most of its Morningstar Category peers.

This fund tracks the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index. It starts with large- and mid-cap stocks in the FTSE USA Index, excluding REITs, and ranks them by their expected dividend yield over the next 12 months. The index selects those representing the higher-yielding half of eligible dividend-paying stocks. Selected holdings are weighted by float-adjusted market cap, pulling the portfolio toward larger, more stable stocks.

Focusing on dividend yield gives the portfolio a value orientation that can open the portfolio to risk. Yield traps, or stocks with untenably high dividends, pose a significant risk to dividend funds. But this strategy limits its exposure to risky companies. Sweeping half the dividend-paying universe into its portfolio diversifies stock-specific risks and limits the influence of distressed firms. Market-cap weighting also emphasizes larger, more stable firms that should have the capacity to continue making dividend payments. This mitigates the impact of yield traps because their weight drops as their prices fall.

Leaning toward stable companies comes at the cost of maximizing dividend yield. But the fund’s yield still typically surpasses the Russell 1000 Value Index by about 1 percentage point. Stability extended to performance as well, with the fund historically experiencing a standard deviation consistently lower than its category bogy.

Like other dividend funds, this portfolio’s sector composition can deviate substantially from the category index, owing to its yield orientation. Market-cap weighting normally keeps these differences small, but the fund’s yield screen can still exclude a significant portion of the market during extreme conditions. Between 2010 and 2018, for instance, the fund’s allocation to financial stocks was anywhere from 15 to 20 percentage points below the category average. This is an artifact of the post-financial-crisis dividend cuts across much of the sector. While this did not hurt the fund’s performance significantly, sector bets tend to be an uncompensated risk.

This fund’s cost-conscious approach sets it apart from the crowd. Its 0.06% fee is among the lowest in the large-value category.

Read Morningstar’s full report on the Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund.

How to Find More of the Best Funds and ETFs to Buy for the Long Term

Given their high Morningstar Medalist Ratings, we expect the top-rated funds on our list to outperform over a full market cycle. That being said, investors may want to expand their search beyond this list, using parameters that matter to them. Here are more ways to find more ETFs and mutual funds:

• Use the Morningstar Investor screener to create your own list of funds to investigate further.
• Explore Morningstar Medalist funds on our Best Investments page.
• Read our latest fund insights and analysis on Morningstar.com.