AVDS vs EXUS

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

EXUSDNomura Focused International Core ETF

In short

AVDS Avantis casts a wide net: roughly 3,000 non-US developed small caps, weighted with an eye on price, profitability and how much cash companies plow back in. Active management that looks a lot like an index fund with its thumb on the scale.

EXUS An active international fund that earns the word "focused": 35 to 45 stocks picked one by one, with country and factor bets deliberately dialed down so the individual stock calls do the work.

Stated mandate

AVDS The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad group of non-U.S. small-cap companies and considering valuation, profitability, and investment levels when selecting and weighting securities.

EXUS The fund seeks capital growth and appreciation.

Why people hold it

• AVDS Charges 0.30% a year, about half the typical fee in its active international peer group. Cheap is a durable edge in a corner of the market where fees usually run high.
• Roughly 3,000 holdings, so no single stock or country steers the outcome. This is small-cap breadth, not a concentrated stock-picking bet.
• The tilts are the whole design: valuation, profitability and investment levels shape both what it owns and how much of each, measured against MSCI World ex USA Small Cap.avantisinvestors.com
• Sits among the strongest builds in a crowded field of active international equity funds. Broad, systematic, low-fee: the boxes that tend to stay ticked.

• EXUS Focused is literal. The portfolio targets 35 to 45 international stocks, so every pick carries real weight instead of vanishing into a thousand-name benchmark.macquarie.com
• Macquarie's Global Equity Team takes granular stock-specific risk while working to minimize country and factor tilts. A different engine than the broad systematic funds that lead this group.macquarie.com
• At 0.59%, the fee lands right at the midpoint for actively managed international funds rather than above it.
• The ETF runs the same International Core approach the team already managed in mutual fund form, so the wrapper is newer than the process.macquarie.com

Worth knowing

• AVDS Thinly traded compared with the big international names. Limit orders and a look at the spread earn their keep here.
• Launched in 2023, so the live record is short even though the approach behind it is not new.
• Costs more than Avantis' broad international fund AVDE (0.23%). Small caps abroad are pricier to research and trade, and they swing harder.

• EXUS Still roughly double the fee of the group's top-ranked systematic peers: AVDE at 0.23%, DFIC at 0.22%. The stock picking carries that gap.
• Concentration cuts both ways. With 35 to 45 names, one holding's stumble lands harder here than in a sprawling international index fund.macquarie.com
• A small fund that trades lightly next to the category's heavyweights, which can mean wider spreads at the moment of the trade.

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full EXUS profile⁠