The Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF (ASX: VAS) is one of the most popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the market today.
The ASX VAS seeks to track the performance of the top 300 ASX shares by market capitalisation.
So, it captures all the share price growth and dividends of the big ASX 200 blue-chip shares as well as the returns of 100 additional smaller companies that together form the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO).
It's the largest ETF in Australia, with more than $12 billion in assets under management.
Just for fun (because we Fools are nerdy about this stuff), let's look at how the ASX VAS has performed against some of the most popular ASX 200 blue-chip shares.
We'll do a five-year comparison here to capture long-term trends for share price growth.
Here we go…
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Superior returns: ASX VAS is beating these blue chips
Over the past five years, the ASX VAS has delivered 10.6% in capital growth (excluding dividends).
That's not much in the grand scheme of things.
But remember, we had a global pandemic in the middle of this period, so there's a major crash and recovery in the mix.
Here is a selection of popular ASX 200 blue chips that the VAS ETF has beaten in terms of price growth.
Over the past five years:
Seek Ltd (ASX: SEK) shares ascended 7%
Medibank Private Ltd (ASX: MPL) shares rose 4.9%
Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) shares climbed 4.6%
Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) shares rose by 4.2%
Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX: RHC) shares gained 1.3%
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) shares dropped 1.3%
Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shares fell 5.5%
Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) shares declined 15%
ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares fell 17.5%
Boral Ltd (ASX: BLD) shares fell 24%
Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) shares declined 26%
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) shares descended 28%
AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) shares fell 49%.
A final word
To recap, the ASX VAS has delivered a total of 10.6% share price growth since 2018.
By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose by 13.6% over this time frame.
The ASX 300, which the Vanguard Australian Shares Index ETF tracks, rose by 13.8%.
