AVDS vs TOUS

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

TOUSBT. Rowe Price International 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.

TOUS T. Rowe Price's stock-picking bench in ETF wrapper: an actively run international portfolio of roughly 190 names, launched in 2023 and priced below the typical active international fund.

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.

TOUS The fund seeks long-term capital growth through an international equity strategy.

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.

• TOUS Charges 0.50% a year, under the median for actively managed international equity ETFs. Active research without the old-school active price tag.
• Roughly 190 stocks: wide enough to spread country and sector risk, concentrated enough that the managers' picks actually show up in results.
• Grew into a multi-billion-dollar fund within a couple of years of its 2023 launch, and trading costs rank among the friendlier ones in its peer group.
• Sits in the upper tier of its active international equity peer group on our review of nearly 60 funds.

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.

• TOUS Systematic rivals go cheaper: DFIC, AVDE and JIRE all run international exposure near a quarter of a percent. Human stock picking is the premium here.
• Live since 2023, so the track record in the ETF is short next to T. Rowe's longer-running strategies.
• Pays out once or twice a year rather than monthly, so income lands in lumps.

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full TOUS profile⁠