AVEM vs DFEM

AVEMAAvantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF

DFEMADimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 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.

DFEM Dimensional casts one giant net over roughly 6,600 emerging-market stocks, then tilts the weights toward cheaper, more profitable, higher-momentum names. Index-like breadth, active hands, at a fee well under the typical active EM fund.

Stated mandate

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

DFEM The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

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.

• DFEM 0.39% a year, against a 0.65% median for its active emerging-markets peer group. Cheap for a fund making its own calls.
• Roughly 6,600 holdings. No single stock, sector or country gets to dominate the outcome; breadth is the main risk control.
• Systematically active: it targets value, profitability and momentum across the opportunity set rather than copying the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Index name for name.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the stronger implementations 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.

• DFEM Active means no index to hide behind. Returns come from Dimensional's tilts, which can drift away from a standard EM benchmark in either direction.
• Not the cheapest seat in the room: AVEM, JEMA and AVXC run 0.33%, a touch under DFEM's 0.39%.
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than yield.

Full AVEM profile⁠

Full DFEM profile⁠