FDEM vs UEVM

FDEMAFidelity Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

UEVMCVictoryShares Emerging Markets Value Momentum ETF

In short

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.

UEVM Value and momentum usually pull in opposite directions. UEVM runs both at once, tracking an MSCI blend index that tilts a portfolio of emerging-market stocks toward the cheap names and the ones already working.

Stated mandate

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

UEVM The Fund seeks to track the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets Select Value Momentum Blend Index before fees and expenses. Its strategy targets global emerging-market equities with greater exposure to value and momentum characteristics.

Why people hold it

• 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

• UEVM Two factors, one ticker: the index leans emerging-market equities toward both value and momentum characteristics, so you aren't picking a side between cheap stocks and stocks with wind behind them.
• Roughly 200 holdings spread across emerging markets, so no single company or story carries the fund. The portfolio construction is a relative strength here.
• Rules-based and index-tracking since its 2017 launch. The factor tilts come from MSCI's published methodology, not a manager's gut call, and it has traded through several full emerging-market cycles.

Worth knowing

• 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%.

• UEVM At 0.53% a year, it costs more than the typical multifactor emerging-market fund. EMGF (0.26%) and AVES (0.36%) run similar factor mandates for meaningfully less.
• Thinly traded compared with its peer group, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads and more slippage on larger or hurried orders.
• Distributions land on an irregular schedule rather than a fixed quarterly or monthly rhythm, so the income timing is unpredictable.

Full FDEM profile⁠

Full UEVM profile⁠