At a glance
XLC charges 0.08% a year, below the 0.42% average of the 8 funds most like it (the cheapest of 9). It has $22.26B in assets, the largest of that group; it paid 1.38% of its price in distributions over the past 12 months, quarterly. Over the past year it returned −11.5% with distributions reinvested (S&P 500: +11.5%), 8th of those 9 funds; over three years it returned +17.1% a year. At its worst it fell 38.7% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 15 months after the low. Its ten largest positions make up 76.1% of the fund, out of 23 in all.
The short version
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) is a State Street index ETF that holds the 23 S&P 500 internet, media, entertainment and telecom companies in the Communication Services Select Sector Index. Its 0.08% annual expense ratio is the lowest of nine similar funds. The other eight average 0.42%. The catch is concentration: Meta Platforms and Alphabet lead, and the 10 largest holdings made up 76% of assets as of June 30, 2026.
Price history
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XLC -11.5% over the year to Oct 30, 2026, total return with distributions reinvested.
How it has behaved
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | Since start | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLC official prospectus, to Dec 31, 2025 | — | +23.10% | — | +12.85% | — | +13.10% |
| XLC price data to Oct 30, 2026 | -14.4% | -11.5% | +17.1% | +5.6% | — | +10.9% |
- Over the year to Oct 30, 2026, XLC returned -11.5%, 8th of 9 among similar funds.
- Its 5-year annualized return was +5.6%.
- Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-37.6%); its best was 2023 (+52.8%).
- The deepest fall in its price history was 46.7% (Sep 1, 2021 to Nov 3, 2022), recovered by Jun 5, 2024.
Show as a table
| Year | Price data | Prospectus (official) |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -14.4% | — |
| 2025 | +23.1% | +23.10% |
| 2024 | +34.7% | +34.64% |
| 2023 | +52.8% | +52.84% |
| 2022 | -37.6% | -37.65% |
| 2021 | +16.0% | +15.89% |
| 2020 | — | +26.82% |
| 2019 | — | +31.23% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Not in the price data, which starts Jun 2, 2020 |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 38.7% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 38.7%, back to its old high 15.4 months after the low |
Dividends and income
Show as a table
| Year | Per share | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | $1.0000 | |
| 2025 | $1.3300 | +40.0% |
| 2024 | $0.9500 | +61.0% |
| 2023 | $0.5900 | +11.3% |
| 2022 | $0.5300 | -7.0% |
| 2021 | $0.5700 |
What's inside
As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 23 securities; the ten largest made up 76.12% of assets.
| Holding | Weight | |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms Inc | 19.90% | |
| Alphabet Inc | 13.08% | |
| Alphabet Inc | 10.42% | |
| Take-Two Interactive Software Inc | 5.25% | |
| Netflix Inc | 4.84% | |
| Comcast Corp | 4.70% | |
| Warner Bros Discovery Inc | 4.67% | |
| Electronic Arts Inc | 4.63% | |
| Walt Disney Co | 4.48% | |
| T-Mobile US Inc | 4.15% | |
| Verizon Communications Inc | 4.14% | |
| AT&T Inc | 4.09% | |
| Live Nation Entertainment Inc | 3.49% | |
| Omnicom Group Inc | 2.50% | |
| EchoStar Corp | 1.67% |
By country
United States 99.83%By asset type
Stocks 99.83%By sector
Sectors of the companies held, for the 88.1% of the fund in companies that have a stock page here; other holdings and cash aren't classified. Source: N-PORT holdings report as of Jun 30, 2026. Cash, money-market funds and derivatives are shown separately from the securities list.What changed recently
- Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors withdrew a net $1.07B (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
- Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +5.04%, -0.66%, -7.10%.
How it works
XLC tracks the Communication Services Select Sector Index, one of 11 Select Sector indexes run by S&P Dow Jones Indices. Every stock in it must be an S&P 500 member classified as communication services under the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), a common system for sorting companies by industry. That covers telecom and wireless carriers, media, entertainment and interactive media. The index had 23 stocks as of November 30, 2025.
Stocks are weighted by market capitalization, the total value of a company's shares, so the largest companies count most. S&P can trim single-stock weights to meet federal tax rules for funds. Even so, as of June 30, 2026, Meta Platforms was about 19.9% of assets, and two Alphabet share classes were about 13.1% and 10.4%. The prospectus calls the fund non-diversified, so a drop in one stock can hit it harder than it would hit a more spread-out fund.
The adviser, SSGA Funds Management, uses replication. It holds substantially all the index stocks in about the same proportions, with at least 95% of assets in them. S&P, not the adviser, picks the stocks and sets their weights. The June 30, 2026 holdings report showed about 0.9% in cash and a sector futures position. Turnover, the share of the portfolio traded in a year, was 40%. Trading costs come on top of the expense ratio.
What it really costs
- XLC charges 0.08% a year, versus an average of 0.42% for the similar funds below (1st of 9, cheapest first).
- Of that, 0.03% is the management fee; the rest covers other fund expenses.
- Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $8 in the first year and $103 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).
| Cost of $10,000 (SEC example) | 1 yr | 3 yrs | 5 yrs | 10 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLC | $8 | $26 | $45 | $103 |
In a retirement portfolio
XLC holds 23 stocks from a single sector, led by Meta Platforms and Alphabet, and its 46.7% drop from 2021 to 2022 shows how hard it can fall.
XLC can add low-cost exposure to large internet, media and telecom companies alongside broader funds, but its drops have been deep. It fell 38.7% in the 2022 bear market, and calendar 2022, down 37.65%, was its worst year. Its deepest drop was 46.7%, from September 1, 2021 to November 3, 2022. It took until June 5, 2024 to recover, about 19 months after the low. Cashing out shares for income near that low would have locked in big losses. The fund launched in 2018, so it has no 2008 record. It gained 26.82% in 2020, the year of the COVID crash.
Income is modest: a 1.36% trailing 12-month yield as of October 29, 2026, paid quarterly. Costs are low: 0.08% a year, or $103 over 10 years on $10,000 in the SEC's standard example. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan needs to weigh the whole portfolio, not one fund.
Who it may suit — and who should look elsewhere
May suit
- Investors who want the S&P 500's communication services stocks, led by Meta Platforms and Alphabet, in one fund costing 0.08% a year.
- Investors adding extra weight in one sector to a broad index fund who can stomach losses like the fund's 37.65% drop in 2022.
- Investors comfortable with weighting by company size. Invesco's equal-weight RSPC overlaps 65% with XLC but charges 0.40% a year, versus 0.08%.
Look elsewhere if
- Investors already holding plenty of Meta Platforms and Alphabet through S&P 500 funds. Meta alone was 19.9% of XLC as of June 30, 2026.
- Investors who need sizable income: the trailing 12-month yield was 1.36% as of October 29, 2026, with payments made quarterly.
- Those who may need cash on short notice: the fund fell 46.7% from September 2021 to November 2022 and took until June 2024 to recover.
Close alternatives
Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.
| Fund | Overlap | Cost | Net assets | 1 yr | 3 yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XLC this fund | — | 0.08% | $22.26B | -11.5% | +17.1% |
| FCOM Fidelity MSCI Communication Services Index … | 81% | 0.084% | $1.73B | -5.8% | +22.1% |
| VOX Vanguard Communication Services ETF | 77% | 0.09% | $5.93B | -5.5% | +22.2% |
| IXP iShares Global Comm Services ETF | 69% | 0.41% | $518.8M | -10.2% | +20.9% |
| RSPC Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Communication … | 65% | 0.4% | $55.8M | -13.1% | +12.1% |
| LSGR Natixis Loomis Sayles Focused Growth ETF | 26% | 0.59% | $839.1M | -2.0% | +23.9% |
| FDN First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund | 24% | 0.51% | $4.98B | -1.2% | +23.7% |
| CAPE DoubleLine Shiller CAPE U.S. Equities ETF | 23% | 0.65% | $238.4M | -0.5% | +13.5% |
Questions investors ask
Is XLC good for retirement?
XLC may fit a retirement portfolio as a small, higher-risk add-on rather than a core holding. It owns 23 stocks in one sector, and Meta Platforms alone was about 19.9% of assets as of June 30, 2026. It lost 37.65% in 2022, and its deepest drop, 46.7%, took until June 5, 2024 to recover. Costs are low at 0.08% a year, but income is modest, with a 1.36% trailing yield as of October 29, 2026.
What's the difference between XLC and FCOM?
The main differences are the index and the fund size, not cost. XLC charges 0.08% a year and Fidelity's FCOM charges 0.084%, and their holdings overlap 81%. XLC owns only the 23 S&P 500 stocks in its index, while FCOM follows an MSCI index. XLC had $22.3 billion in net assets as of June 30, 2026, versus $1.7 billion for FCOM as of July 31, 2026. Vanguard's VOX is also close, at 0.09% a year with 77% overlap.
Does XLC pay dividends?
Yes. XLC pays dividends every quarter. Over the 12 months through October 29, 2026, it paid about $1.38 per share, a trailing yield of 1.36%. The money comes from dividends on the stocks it holds, minus fund expenses. That yield is small next to the fund's price swings, which ranged from a 37.65% loss in 2022 to a 52.84% gain in 2023. Price moves, not payouts, have driven most of its returns.
What is XLC's average annual return?
According to its prospectus, XLC returned an average of 12.85% a year over the five years through December 31, 2025. From its June 18, 2018 launch to that date, it averaged 13.1% a year. The path was bumpy: down 37.65% in 2022, then up 52.84% in 2023, 34.64% in 2024 and 23.1% in 2025. Based on market prices through October 29, 2026, the fund was down 13.3% for the year to date and 11.9% over one year.
What are XLC's top holdings?
Meta Platforms was XLC's largest holding as of June 30, 2026, at about 19.9% of assets. Two classes of Alphabet shares came next, at about 13.1% and 10.4%. Then came Take-Two Interactive (5.2%), Netflix (4.8%), Comcast (4.7%), Warner Bros Discovery (4.7%), Electronic Arts (4.6%), Walt Disney (4.5%) and T-Mobile US (4.2%). Those 10 positions made up about 76% of the fund. Verizon and AT&T followed at about 4.1% each.