AZTD vs SCHC

AZTDDAztlan Global Stock Selection Dm SMID ETF

SCHCASchwab International Small-Cap Equity ETF

In short

AZTD Most developed-market small-cap funds hand you thousands of names. AZTD screens North America, Western Europe and Asia on six factors and keeps about 40. A boutique's high-conviction take on SMID, priced accordingly.

SCHC The bargain end of international small caps: Schwab charges 0.06% where the typical fund in this group sits near 0.40%. Roughly 2,200 stocks from developed markets outside the US, with Canada and South Korea in the mix.

Stated mandate

AZTD The Fund passively tracks the Solactive Aztlan Global Developed Markets SMID Cap Index before fees and expenses.

SCHC The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return of the FTSE Developed Small Cap ex US Liquid Index.

Why people hold it

• AZTD Six factors (value, cash flow, capital structure, growth, EPS revisions, momentum) get equal say, and component selection is fully rule-based, not a manager's call.solactive.comsolactive.com 2
• Roughly 40 names spread across North America, Western Europe and Asia. Real conviction, not a closet copy of a thousand-stock global small-cap benchmark.solactive.com
• Health care is included but the pharmaceutical sub-sector is screened out, tilting the sleeve toward devices and services over drug-pipeline bets.solactive.com
• It tracks a published Solactive index, so the rulebook and each rebalance list are out in the open at the index sponsor.solactive.com

• SCHC 0.06% a year, against a peer-group median near 0.40%. In a corner of the market where fees usually run high, that gap is most of the pitch.schwabassetmanagement.com
• About 2,200 holdings across developed markets outside the US. Broad enough that it behaves like the asset class rather than a concentrated bet.
• Counts Canada and South Korea as developed markets, covering ground that EAFE-built rivals such as SCZ leave out by design.schwabassetmanagement.comishares.com
• Trading since 2010 and has tracked its FTSE developed small-cap benchmark tightly, one of the cleaner index implementations in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• AZTD 0.75% a year runs above the median for its international equity peer group, and well above core options like AVDE (0.23%) and DFIC (0.22%).
• A small fund that trades thinly. Limit orders matter here, and spreads can be wider than on the category's mainstream names.
• About 40 stocks means single names move the fund far more than they would inside a broad developed-markets index.

• SCHC Foreign small caps swing harder than large caps, and holdings are priced in local currencies, so exchange-rate moves feed straight into results.
• Developed markets only. Emerging-market small caps sit outside the mandate, which is where wider ex-US peers like VSS reach further.
• Moderately traded rather than a top-of-tape name, and distributions land once or twice a year instead of quarterly.

Full AZTD profile⁠

Full SCHC profile⁠