AVDS vs IDEQ

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

IDEQBLazard International Dynamic Equity 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.

IDEQ An institutional quant strategy that finally opened its doors. Lazard's International Equity Advantage mutual fund, running since 2015, became this ETF in 2025: multi-factor stock picking outside the US, measured against MSCI ACWI ex USA, at 0.40% a year.

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.

IDEQ The Portfolio seeks long-term capital appreciation. It normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in non-U.S. equity securities.

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.

• IDEQ Not a fresh idea in a new wrapper. Lazard's quantitative team has run this portfolio since 2015 as a mutual fund, converting it into an ETF in 2025.lazard.com
• 0.40% a year sits under the 0.60% typical of active international equity funds, one reason it ranks among the stronger implementations in that group.
• Four signals, not one. The proprietary model ranks stocks on value, growth, quality and momentum, then shapes risk exposures against MSCI ACWI ex USA.
• The prospectus commits at least 80% of net assets to non-US equities, so it stays a dedicated overseas sleeve rather than drifting back toward home.

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.

• IDEQ Cheap for active, not cheap outright: systematic rivals AVDE, DFIC and JIRE all price near a quarter of a percent.
• MSCI ACWI ex USA is the yardstick, not the blueprint. The model chooses and weights holdings itself, so the portfolio can sit far from the index.
• Lazard discloses that the strategy can hold a large share of assets in a single country, Japan being its own example, so one market's politics can carry weight.lazard.com

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full IDEQ profile⁠