AVXC vs DFEM

AVXCAAvantis Emerging Markets ex-China Equity ETF

DFEMADimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

In short

AVXC The China question, answered by subtraction. Avantis runs its usual emerging-markets playbook (roughly 2,800 stocks of every size, tilted toward the cheap and the profitable) with China left out entirely, for 0.33% a year.

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

AVXC The fund invests in a broad set of companies across emerging-market countries, excluding China, and spanning all market capitalizations. It seeks higher expected returns by overweighting securities with lower valuations and higher profitability ratios.

DFEM The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• AVXC 0.33% a year, about half the typical fee among active EM funds, and the ex-China carve-out costs no more than Avantis charges on its with-China flagship, AVEM.
• Roughly 2,800 holdings spanning all market-cap sizes, so removing China doesn't turn the fund into a concentrated bet on a few large markets.avantisinvestors.com
• Actively run against MSCI Emerging Markets IMI rather than tracking it: the mandate overweights lower-valuation, higher-profitability companies.
• One of the stronger builds in the active emerging-markets group we review, on cost and portfolio construction alike.

• 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

• AVXC Thinly traded next to the giants of the category, so spreads and limit orders matter more on the way in and the way out.
• Launched in 2024, so the live record is short and the risk picture is still forming.
• Leaving China out is a real departure from standard EM exposure, and the value and small-cap tilts add more distance from a plain cap-weighted index.

• 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 AVXC profile⁠

Full DFEM profile⁠