What happened Shares of the Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF (NASDAQ: VONG) returned 12.7% in the first half of 2021, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. This performance is as investors would expect from an exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to track the performance of a specific index, as we'll get to in a moment. For context, the S&P 500 Index returned 15.3% in the first half of the year. Year to date (July 15) in 2021, the above noted Vanguard ETF has returned 14.9%, while the S&P 500 has returned 17%. However, over longer periods, the Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF has outperformed the S&P 500. Over the last five years, for instance, this ETF has returned 169% versus the S&P 500's 122%. Image source: Getty Images. So what The Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF is a non-actively managed fund that aims to track the performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index, "a broadly diversified index predominantly made up of growth stocks of large U.S. companies," according to Vanguard. This ETF's five largest holdings as of the end of June were: Apple (10.2% of total net assets) Microsoft (9.7%) Amazon (7.1%) Alphabet (5.9%) Facebook (3.9%) As the above numbers suggest, this ETF is quite concentrated. It had a total of 501 stock holdings at the end of last month, with the 10 largest holdings making up 46.7% of total net assets. In addition, the fund could also be considered a fairly decent play on big U.S. tech, as U.S. technology companies accounted for 45.8% of total net asset value as of the most recent sector data that Vanguard provides (end of May). The next three largest sectors were consumer discretionary (19.3%), healthcare (13.3%), and industrials (12.5%). Now what The Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF is a solid choice for ETF investors who favor growth stocks over value stocks, large caps over small and medium caps, and U.S. stocks over a mix of domestic and foreign stocks. (Large-cap stocks have market capitalizations of at least $10 billion.) This ETF has done a good job tracking the underlying index, as is usually the case for index funds, and Vanguard funds in general are known for having low expense ratios. The Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth Index ETF's expense ratio is about 0.08%. 10 stocks we like better than Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETFWhen our award-winning analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETF wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of June 7, 2021 John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten, an employee of LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2022 $1,920 calls on Amazon, long March 2023 $120 calls on Apple, short January 2022 $1,940 calls on Amazon, and short March 2023 $130 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source