ACSG vs FESM

ACSGCAmerican Century Small Cap Growth Insights ETF

FESMAFidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF

In short

ACSG American Century's 2025 entry in active small-cap growth: it hunts U.S. small companies whose businesses are visibly improving, then spreads the bet across roughly 300 names instead of a concentrated few.

FESM A quant small-cap strategy that has been running since 2007 and moved into an ETF wrapper in 2023 with the same mandate. It nudges the Russell 2000 rather than copying it, and charges far less than the typical active small-cap fund.

Stated mandate

ACSG The fund is an actively managed ETF seeking to outperform its benchmark over full market cycles by investing primarily in U.S. small-cap companies showing accelerating and sustainable business improvement.

FESM The fund is a diversified U.S. equity strategy focused on small-cap companies. It seeks to outperform its benchmark through a quantitative process that balances risk and return.

Why people hold it

• ACSG A clear thesis, actively run: U.S. small caps showing accelerating, sustainable business improvement, judged against the benchmark over full market cycles rather than quarter to quarter.americancentury.com
• 0.49% a year, a shade under the median active U.S. small-cap fund in its peer group. Active stock selection without the classic active price tag.
• Roughly 300 holdings, so no single small-cap blowup runs the show. Breadth closer to an index fund than to a concentrated stock picker.
• Sits in the upper half of its active U.S. small-cap peer group, with how the portfolio is built among its stronger points.

• FESM Costs 0.28% a year, roughly half the median for active US small-cap ETFs. Cheap fuel for a strategy that only needs to beat its benchmark by a little.
• The strategy dates to 2007 as a Fidelity mutual fund and kept the same objective when it converted to an ETF in 2023. Long history, newer ticker.fidelity.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out tends to be straightforward. One of the stronger builds in the active small-cap group.
• Spreads across roughly 600 small-cap names, so no single blowup dominates. This is a diversified core sleeve, not a concentrated stock-picker bet.

Worth knowing

• ACSG Launched in October 2025, so the track record is short and any risk read rests on a thin slice of history.
• Small asset base and light trading mean wider bid-ask spreads than the giant small-cap index funds. Limit orders matter more here.
• Systematic peers cost less: AVSC at 0.25%, DUHP at 0.20%. The fee gap is what active selection costs versus a rules-based portfolio.

• FESM Small caps are the choppiest corner of the US market, and this fund lives there full time. Expect a bumpier ride than a large-cap core holding.fidelity.com
• Enhanced index means small tilts around the Russell 2000, not a break from it. Results track close to the index rather than looking dramatically different.fidelity.com
• Cheap, but not the cheapest in the room: top-rated peers AVSC and AVUV run 0.25% and DUHP 0.20%.

Full ACSG profile⁠

Full FESM profile⁠