AVES vs GEM

AVESAAvantis Emerging Markets Value ETF

GEMBGoldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF

In short

AVES Avantis starts with the emerging markets universe and tilts it: cheap valuations, profitable companies, roughly 1,800 names from megacaps down to small caps. Broad EM exposure with a deliberate value-and-quality slant, priced under the typical multifactor rival.

GEM Goldman's 2015 ETF debut class included this one: emerging markets screened through four factors (value, momentum, quality, low volatility) across roughly 700 names for 0.35% a year. A full-market map with tilts, not a concentrated bet.

Stated mandate

AVES The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

GEM The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta® Emerging Markets Equity Index, which provides exposure to equity securities of emerging-market issuers.

Why people hold it

• AVES Charges 0.36% a year, below the 0.48% median for emerging markets multifactor funds. EM is where fee gaps usually run widest.
• Two screens, not one: it tilts toward cheap valuations and toward high profitability, so the deep-value bucket gets a quality filter on the way in.avantisinvestors.com
• Roughly 1,800 holdings across the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI Value opportunity set, meaning small caps ride along rather than getting screened out.
• Portfolio build sits in the top quartile of its EM multifactor peer group in our review, and the fund is a multi-billion-dollar, regularly traded name.

• GEM Four factors at once: good value, strong momentum, high quality and low volatility, scored stock by stock and blended, so no single tilt runs the portfolio.gsam.com
• 0.35% a year, below the median for emerging-market multifactor funds, with no fee waiver doing the work: the gross and net numbers are the same.
• Roughly 700 holdings gives it the breadth of a core EM index fund rather than a narrow factor sleeve, and it has been a multi-billion-dollar fund trading since 2015.
• One of the stronger implementations in a crowded multifactor emerging-market field, and it tracks a single named index rather than a shifting in-house process.gsam.com

Worth knowing

• AVES Value in emerging markets means leaning into cheaper, cyclical corners of the market, plus currency swings. A bumpier ride than a plain broad EM index.
• Cost is not the floor here: peer EMGF runs a multifactor EM portfolio for 0.26%, ten basis points less.
• Launched in 2021, so its live record is shorter than the older EM factor funds it lines up against.

• GEM Cheaper multifactor EM options exist: EMGF at 0.26% and FDEM at 0.25%, neither leaning on a waiver.
• Blending four factors mutes each one, so the tilt is gentler than a single-factor fund like AVES, which goes all in on value.
• Emerging-market stocks swing hard, and currency moves and country concentration come with the mandate. The factor screen tilts that exposure, it does not defuse it.

Full AVES profile⁠

Full GEM profile⁠