Three new international stock funds, and none is the cheap one
Avantis's new all-international stock fund reached the market in the last week of September 2026 at a 0.27% net fee, beside an iShares emerging-markets fund at 0.35% and a Symmetry country-momentum fund at 0.86%.
Key takeaways
Avantis, iShares and Symmetry each listed a fund for stocks outside the United States in the last week of September. As of Monday, October 5, none has a performance record, so the fee is what a buyer can compare. None of the three is the cheap way into the market it covers.
A fixed rule, at the highest fee
Symmetry's new fund, ICMO, buys other funds tied to single countries and rotates them on a fixed rule. As of Monday it held about $492,000. CORO, the iShares fund that already holds non-U.S. country funds, held $13.1 billion as of Friday, October 2.
The new fund charges 0.86%, against a 0.55% net fee at CORO. On the fees charged now, that is 0.31 percentage points more.
That 0.55% depends on a waiver. The gross fee is 1.06%, and CORO's fact sheet says the waiver runs through Wednesday, June 30, 2027.
Its prospectus splits the 0.86% into a 0.55% management fee and 0.31% for the funds held inside. The fee table shows no waiver. Symmetry's management fee does not cover those inner costs.
The rule puts 75% of the fund in the countries that have led over six and 12 months, and 25% in one region picked the same way: developed markets outside the United States, emerging markets, or international markets as a whole. Symmetry describes a portfolio of 13 to 26 country funds. The prospectus allows the fund to put any amount in a single country.
CORO does not follow that six- and 12-month rule. BlackRock's Model Portfolio Solutions team rotates the country funds.
A buyer who wants momentum in stocks, rather than in countries, already has a different fund. IMTM tracks an index of developed-market stocks with stronger price momentum and charges 0.30%. It leaves out emerging markets, and it does not buy country funds.
The biggest holding is an index fund
Avantis's new all-international stock fund, AVNC, is not a pure list of stocks. In holdings dated Sunday, October 4, its largest position, at 9.8%, was Vanguard's emerging-markets fund, VWO. Three more funds in the top holdings, including Avantis's own emerging-markets fund, AVEM, brought those four positions to about 14% of the portfolio.
VWO is AVNC's largest holding
Vanguard charges 0.06% for VWO. On $10,000, the stated annual charge is $6, against $27 at the new fund's net fee.
AVNC is actively managed and does not track an index. It buys developed- and emerging-market companies of any size. Avantis uses current prices and company financials to hold more of the companies it expects to do better. The prospectus favors smaller companies with higher profitability and lower prices relative to their books.
Avantis already sells these markets through AVNM, which holds other Avantis international funds instead of the stocks. As of Monday it held about $784 million. The new fund held about $96 million.
The older fund charges 0.31%. The new one lists a 0.27% net fee, against 0.28% gross. The difference is a waiver of fees on American Century funds held inside it. Avantis, part of American Century, expects that waiver to remain unless the trustees end it. Against its own sibling, the saving is 0.04 percentage points.
Vanguard's total international stock fund, VXUS, tracks the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index, a broad list of stocks outside the United States. It charges 0.05%. On $10,000, the stated annual charge is $31 at AVNM and $5 at VXUS.
Staying close to the index
BlackRock dates its new emerging-markets fund, ENHE, to Tuesday, September 29. The prospectus says it seeks to beat the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a standard list of emerging-market stocks, while staying close to that index. BlackRock says its models look for mispriced stocks, then hold more or less of them than the index does, while limiting the extra risk.
The fee is 0.35% after a waiver, and 0.36% before it. The fund held $10.8 million as of Friday, October 2.
BlackRock's own breakdown, as of Thursday, October 1, put information technology at 40.2% of the fund.
Avantis already runs AVEM at 0.33%, on the price-and-financials approach. Goldman Sachs dates another active emerging-markets fund, GEMQ, to Wednesday, September 9, about three weeks earlier, and charges 0.40%.
iShares' own broad emerging-markets index fund, IEMG, charges 0.09%. The gap is 0.26 percentage points, for a fund designed to stay close to the emerging-markets index.
ETFs in this story
Frequently asked questions
What are the three new funds?
Avantis listed AVNC, an all-international stock fund; iShares listed ENHE, an emerging-markets fund; and Symmetry listed ICMO, a country-momentum fund.
What do they charge?
AVNC lists a 0.27% net fee, ENHE charges 0.35% after a waiver, and ICMO charges 0.86%.
Do they have a performance record?
As of Monday, October 5, none has a performance record, so the fee is what a buyer can compare.
What do the cheaper funds charge?
CORO's 0.55% net fee depends on a waiver through June 30, 2027, VXUS charges 0.05%, and IEMG charges 0.09%.
