AVEM vs MEM

AVEMAAvantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF

MEMDMatthews Emerging Markets Equity Active 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.

MEM An Asia specialist's take on the whole emerging world. Matthews runs MEM as a concentrated active book of roughly 40 names, with the prospectus objective pointing primarily at the Asia Pacific region.

Stated mandate

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

MEM The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and invests primarily in the Asia Pacific region.

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.

• MEM Matthews built its research franchise on Asia, and this fund applies that lens to broad emerging markets rather than tracking an index.matthewsasia.com
• Concentrated by design: roughly 40 names, at least 80% of net assets in emerging-market common and preferred stock, with stock picking framed by a top-down macro view and beta controls.matthewsasia.com
• Simple plumbing. A 1940 Act ETF that owns the stocks directly: no swaps, no leverage, no notes.

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.

• MEM At 0.79% a year it runs above the typical active EM ETF, and several times the 0.33% charged by systematic rivals like AVEM or the 0.39% at DFEM.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so the spread you pay getting in and out is part of the real cost.
• It sits in the lower tier of its active EM peer group on cost and tradability, and with about 40 holdings, individual country and stock calls carry real weight.

Full AVEM profile⁠

Full MEM profile⁠