DFEV vs QEMM

DFEVBDimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF

QEMMBState Street SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets StrategicFactors 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.

QEMM Instead of betting on one factor, QEMM buys value, quality and low volatility across emerging markets at once, packing roughly 800 stocks into a single MSCI factor-blend index for 0.30% a year.

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.

QEMM The fund seeks to track the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Factor Mix A-Series 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.

• QEMM One ticket, three tilts: the MSCI EM Factor Mix A-Series Index blends value, quality and low volatility, so no single style has to be in favor for the strategy to run as designed.ssga.com
• At 0.30% a year it undercuts the typical fee in the multifactor emerging-markets crowd, and the portfolio is built by index rules rather than a manager's hunch.
• Running since 2014 with roughly 800 holdings and State Street behind the wrapper: a long-lived option in a corner of the market where niche products often quietly close.
• The low-volatility sleeve is the tell. This is emerging-markets exposure assembled to smooth the ride, not to chase the hottest single factor.ssga.com

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.

• QEMM Trades thinner than the category's household names, so spreads can be wider. That bites most on large or hurried orders.
• Splitting the bet three ways dilutes each factor by design, so the portfolio rarely looks or moves like a plain-vanilla emerging-markets index.
• Distributions land once or twice a year rather than quarterly, and peers such as EMGF carry a lower fee for multifactor EM exposure.

Full DFEV profile⁠

Full QEMM profile⁠