People ask us one question more than any other: if I only buy stocks that pass an ethical screen, am I giving up returns? We went back to our own numbers, with fresh prices to the close on Friday 16 October 2026, to find out.
The short version. Over the past year, the screen itself did not hold returns back. The S&P 500 companies that pass our screen did better than the ones that don’t.
Our own Ethical 500 index did trail the S&P 500. Most of that gap comes from how the index is built: every stock gets the same weight, and it holds far less big tech. It is not the screen.
S&P 500 names that pass our screen, 1 year
+23.4%
vs +8.7% for the names that don’t
Titan Ethical 500, 1 year
+13.4%
vs +16.3% equal-weight S&P, +16.8% S&P 500
Titan Ethical 500, since 3 June 2024
+36.5%
vs +35.2% equal-weight S&P, +48.9% S&P 500
All figures are total returns (dividends reinvested) to the 16 October 2026 close. “1 year” means from the 16 October 2025 close.
Why we looked again
In our June snapshot, we showed that our Ethical 500 index was behind the S&P 500 since the spring of 2024. That was true, and it still is. But a single gap between two lines doesn’t tell you why. So this time we pulled fresh prices for every stock in our indices and every S&P 500 member, and split the result apart.
There are two separate questions here. First: do the companies that pass the screen do worse than the ones that fail? Second: does our index, built from those companies, do worse than the market? The answers turn out to be different.
Question 1: did passing the screen hurt?
Of the 503 stocks in the S&P 500, 200 pass our screen today. They are big companies: together they make up about 61% of the index by size. We weighted each group by company size, the same way the S&P 500 does, and measured the year from 16 October 2025 to 16 October 2026.
The names that pass returned +23.4%. The names that don’t returned +8.7%. Over this year, the screen kept the stronger half.
Some excluded companies still did very well. The ten that added most to the S&P 500’s gain include Eli Lilly (+54%), Merck (+79%), Visa (+21%) and JPMorgan (+16%). Most of the ten fail on debt. Visa and JPMorgan fail on what they do: financial services. Between them, these ten added 2.26 points to the S&P 500’s year. Take them out and the index still made +16.2%, against +16.8% with them in.
The other side matters too. Of the ten S&P 500 shares that added most to the index this year (led by Apple, Alphabet, Nvidia and Micron), nine pass our screen. Eli Lilly is the only one that doesn’t.
Question 2: so why is our index behind?
Our Ethical 500 holds the top 500 stocks that pass our screen, worldwide, each at the same weight. That design choice is the main story.
- Same weight for every stock. A small industrial firm counts as much as Apple. The S&P 500 gives its largest companies far more weight, and those companies led the market.
- Much less tech. Technology is about 17% of our index. In the S&P 500 it is about 35%.
- Different stocks. Only 87 of our 500 are S&P 500 members, and 124 are listed outside the US.
The best check is to compare like with like. The equal-weight S&P 500 (the RSP fund) uses the same “every stock counts the same” rule but no screen. Since 3 June 2024, our index returned +36.5% and RSP returned +35.2%. The S&P 500 itself (SPY) returned +48.9%. Over the last year the order is RSP +16.3%, SPY +16.8% and our index +13.4%.
So over 16 months our index sits close to the equal-weight market, and both sit well behind the big-company index. Over the last year it is about 3 points behind the equal-weight market, so we are not claiming it matched. But most of the gap with the S&P 500 is weighting and tech, not the screen.
There is a trade-off in the other direction. Over the last year our index moved less than the S&P 500: its worst fall from a high was 7.4%, against 8.9% for SPY.
What public screened funds did
Two US funds apply a faith-based screen but weight by company size, like the S&P 500. We include them as public reference points only. We don’t recommend them, and we have no link with either fund.
- SPUS (tracks the S&P 500 Shariah index): +19.7% over the year to 16 October 2026.
- HLAL (tracks the FTSE USA Shariah index): +24.5% over the same year.
Both did better than SPY’s +16.8% over that year. This fits the picture above: a screened portfolio weighted by company size kept the big winners that passed. One year is a short window, and these funds have their own rules, fees and holdings.
Read this before you use these numbers
- Our indices are rebuilt from today’s lists. We take the stocks that pass our screen now and measure them backwards. A stock that failed or dropped out along the way is missing, which flatters the result. We tested this on our Prosper 25 index: built from today’s list it gained +12.6% from 29 June to 16 October 2026, but the version that tracked the real list as it changed gained +9.9%. That is about 3 points of flattery in under four months.
- The pass/fail split uses today’s screen. We sorted S&P 500 members by their screen result today, and we use today’s members. Company weights are estimated from current size.
- Past results don’t predict the future. One year in which big tech led is not a rule. In a year when banks or drug makers lead, the picture can flip.
- This is information, not financial or religious advice.
The takeaway
Over this year, screening out companies on debt and business grounds did not cost returns among S&P 500 stocks. How you build the portfolio mattered more: equal weight or size weight, and how much tech you hold. If you compare a screened portfolio with the market, check that you are comparing the same kind of portfolio.
Screens can disagree on single companies too. In our look at the five stocks in the HSBC fund story, four of the five failed our screen.
Want to know where a stock you own stands? Check any stock on our screen, with the reasons shown.
How we measured
- Prices: adjusted daily closes (dividends reinvested), pulled on 18 October 2026, to the 16 October 2026 close.
- Titan indices: equal weight, rebalanced daily. Ethical 500 is the top 500 stocks that pass our screen as of 18 October 2026.
- S&P 500 split: each member’s contribution is its starting weight times its return. Our rebuilt total comes within about 1 point of SPY’s actual one-year return.
- Funds (SPY, RSP, SPUS, HLAL): their own closing prices, dividends reinvested.
This is information, not financial or religious advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security or fund. Past performance does not predict future returns. Index figures are backtests built from today’s lists, not a live track record. See our ethical disclaimer.
