DFEV vs FDEM

DFEVBDimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

FDEMAFidelity Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

In short

DFEV Dimensional's value take on emerging markets: roughly 3,200 cheap stocks spread across countries and sectors, picked actively rather than copied from an index. Fee is 0.43% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027.

FDEM Value, quality, momentum and low-volatility screens run across emerging markets stocks, plus an unusual extra filter: a tilt toward names less correlated with US equities. Fidelity's in-house index, priced under the category median.

Stated mandate

DFEV The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated, actively managed approach to invest in emerging-market equity securities selected for value characteristics while diversifying across countries, sectors, and companies.

FDEM The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Fidelity Emerging Markets Multifactor Index.

Why people hold it

• DFEV Roughly 3,200 holdings across emerging-market countries, sectors and companies, so no single stock or country steers the whole portfolio.
• Active by design: the team buys stocks it judges to be low relative price, instead of waiting on an index committee's reset calendar.
• Since its 2022 launch it has grown into a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades at moderate volume, and it pays shareholders quarterly.
• One of the stronger implementations in the emerging-market factor peer group, which is crowded with funds chasing the same cheap-stock premium.

• FDEM Four factor screens (value, quality, momentum, lower volatility) and then a twist most multifactor rivals skip: the index also leans toward stocks with lower correlation to the US market.sec.gov
• At 0.25% a year, it undercuts the typical fund in the international multifactor group, where the median sits at 0.38%.
• Rules over hunches: normally at least 80% of assets sit in index securities, so the screens drive the portfolio. Live since 2019, with distributions paid quarterly.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• DFEV 0.43% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027 (0.46% gross) sits near the category median, but above factor rivals AVES at 0.36% and EMGF at 0.26%.
• The value tilt is the whole point, which means the portfolio can look and behave very differently from a standard emerging-markets index.
• Emerging-market equity carries currency, political and liquidity risk; wide diversification spreads single-name risk, not the asset class's own.

• FDEM Selective by design: a couple hundred large- and mid-cap names, not the full emerging markets universe, so results diverge from plain market-cap EM index funds.sec.gov
• Emerging markets carry currency, political and regulatory risk. A low-volatility screen aims to soften the ride relative to the broad EM market, not to remove the risk.sec.gov
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, so spreads deserve a look on larger orders. The developed-market sibling FDEV runs cheaper at 0.18%.

Full DFEV profile⁠

Full FDEM profile⁠