Category Review
Vanguard's property fund lost a first-half lead over stocks
Schwab Fundamental International Small Company Index ETF
$49.74+0.24 (+0.48%)
- 0.39%
- $3.1B
- +18.6%
- 3.64%
- 0.1M sh
- $49.64
- low $42.95high $51.83
The ETF.net FNDC Grade
A
Score 76 out of 100
- 4 of 16
Score 76 of 100 falls in the A band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.A70 out of 100Rank 4 of 16Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.A100 out of 100Rank 1 of 11Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.B62 out of 100Rank 4 of 16Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.B69 out of 100Rank 3 of 16Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A72 out of 100Rank 6 of 16Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.B65 out of 100Rank 5 of 16
Our read on FNDC
ASchwab's contrarian cut of international small caps: instead of letting share price set position size, FNDC weights roughly 1,600 developed-market small companies by fundamental measures of size, which bakes in a value tilt.
The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of an index measuring small non-U.S. developed-market companies according to fundamental size and weighting.
Why people hold it
- Weights companies by fundamental measures of size rather than share price, so a stock's weight does not climb simply because the market bid it up.
- Roughly 1,600 names spread across developed markets outside the US. Broad enough that no single small-cap story drives the fund.
- Trading since 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that stays inside its lane: developed-market small companies, no drift into emerging markets or larger caps.
- At 0.39%, one of the better-standing implementations in a peer group where the typical fund charges about the same.
Worth knowing
- The fundamental weighting costs extra: plain cap-weighted siblings SCHC and VSS charge 0.06% against 0.39% here.
- A value tilt means results can diverge from standard cap-weighted international small-cap indexes for long stretches, in either direction.
- Cash comes in lumps: distributions are annual or semiannual, not monthly, and the fund trades moderately rather than like the category's busiest names.
FNDC Holdings
- Stocks
- 1,585
- 2%
- 4062.T
Sectors
- Industrials24.7%
- Consumer Discretionary12.9%
- Financials12.8%
- Materials9.9%
- Technology8.7%
- Real Estate7.1%
- Consumer Staples6.0%
- Health Care5.8%
- Communication5.2%
- Energy4.4%
- Utilities2.4%
Geography
- Japan30.44%
- Canada8.42%
- Korea (the Republic of)8.41%
- United Kingdom8.17%
- United States6.46%
- Australia5.37%
- Switzerland3.86%
- Sweden3.70%
- 25.17%
Developed 86% · Emerging 14%
FNDC Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
FNDC$11,865
Returns run to the Oct 12, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | FNDC |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +11.8% |
| 1 month | −3.1% |
| 3 months | +1.3% |
| 1 year | +18.6% |
| 3 years | +20.1% |
| 5 years | +8.4% |
| 10 years | +8.4% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | FNDC |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +11.8% | |
| 2025 | +35.6% | |
| 2024 | +1.4% | |
| 2023 | +14.9% | |
| 2022 | −14.7% | |
| 2021 | +10.3% | |
| 2020 | +6.6% |
FNDC in the news
FNDC Dividends
- 3.64%
- $1.80
- $0.28 per share
- Twice a year
Distribution history
FNDC Risk
- 13.6%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.07
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −30.8%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 1.04
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FNDC Cost
0.39%
FNDC0.39%
- The middle half of International Small-Cap funds
- Median 0.44%
3 of the 16 International Small-Cap funds charge less.
Other funds in International Small-Cap
- AVSSVanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETFExpense ratio 0.06%1 year return +13.8%
- ASCZiShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETFExpense ratio 0.40%1 year return +15.0%
- AWSMLiShares MSCI World Small-Cap ETFExpense ratio 0.30%1 year return +18.5%
- ADFISDimensional - International Small Cap ETFExpense ratio 0.39%1 year return +18.1%
- AGWXState Street SPDR S&P International Small Cap ETFExpense ratio 0.40%1 year return +18.3%