AVEM vs AVSE

AVEMAAvantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF

AVSEAAvantis Responsible Emerging Markets Equity ETF

In short

AVEM Emerging markets taken whole: roughly 3,900 stocks, large down to small, with an active tilt toward cheaper and more profitable companies. Avantis charges about half the typical active EM fee to do it.

AVSE Avantis's emerging markets workhorse with a values filter bolted on: the same profitability tilt and thousands-of-stocks build as its flagship EM fund, at the same 0.33% fee, minus the issuers its team flags on ESG grounds.

Stated mandate

AVEM Seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad range of companies across emerging-market countries and all market capitalizations.

AVSE The fund is an actively managed emerging-markets equity strategy that seeks to identify securities with higher expected returns while excluding issuers that raise concerns under the portfolio team's environmental, social, and governance evaluation.

Why people hold it

• AVEM Fee is 0.33% a year against a 0.65% median for active emerging-markets funds, so the active tilt starts from a low-cost base.
• Owns roughly 3,900 names across the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI universe, including small caps, rather than a short stock-picker's list.avantisinvestors.com
• Active, but rules-driven: the portfolio leans toward lower valuations and higher profitability instead of relying on manager hunches.
• Running since 2019 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund. One of the strongest implementations in its emerging-markets peer group.

• AVSE Charges 0.33% a year, roughly half the typical fee among actively managed emerging markets funds. The cost drag stays out of the way of the strategy.
• The screen trims rather than concentrates: the portfolio still spans thousands of emerging markets stocks, not a short list of approved names.avantisinvestors.com
• Active in the Avantis sense: a systematic tilt toward more profitable companies, not a manager's hunches about which stocks pop next.
• Priced level with Avantis's mainstream EM funds (AVEM, AVXC) and JPMorgan's JEMA at 0.33%, and one of the stronger builds in the active EM group.

Worth knowing

• AVEM Emerging-market equity is a bumpy asset class, and returns arrive in dollars, so local currency swings add a second layer of movement.
• The value and profitability tilts are the whole point, which means the fund is built to drift from a plain market-cap EM index, sometimes for long stretches.
• No China carve-out: this one takes the full EM opportunity set. Avantis runs AVXC on the same approach for those who want it without China.

• AVSE Thinly traded next to the index-fund giants of emerging markets, so bid-ask spreads can widen and larger orders need care.
• The ESG exclusions are the portfolio team's own judgment calls, so the holdings and the results will drift from a plain broad EM benchmark.
• Emerging markets equity brings currency swings and country-level political risk, and this fund holds that exposure directly. Pays quarterly.

Full AVEM profile⁠

Full AVSE profile⁠