FDEV vs GLOF

FDEVAFidelity International Multifactor ETF

GLOFBiShares Global Equity Factor ETF

In short

FDEV Four factors (value, quality, momentum, low volatility) blended into one developed-markets index fund at 0.18% a year. Fidelity's answer to paying up for a single-factor tilt overseas.

GLOF Most factor funds in this corner stop at the US border. GLOF doesn't: one fund, roughly 700 large- and mid-cap stocks across developed and emerging markets, weighted toward value, quality, momentum, low volatility and smaller size.

Stated mandate

FDEV The fund seeks returns generally corresponding to the Fidelity International Multifactor Index before fees and expenses.

GLOF The fund seeks to track an index of large- and mid-capitalization developed- and emerging-market stocks selected for favorable exposure to target style factors, subject to constraints.

Why people hold it

• FDEV 0.18% a year, less than half the typical fee in its international multifactor group, and within a rounding error of the cheapest name there (INTF at 0.16%).
• One index does the work of four screens: value, quality, momentum and low volatility applied together, instead of you stacking separate single-factor funds.
• Roughly 220 developed-market stocks outside the US, picked by published index rules rather than a manager's hunches, with cash paid out quarterly.
• Sits in the top quartile of a 29-fund international factor cohort, which is a crowded field full of far pricier attempts at the same job.

• GLOF Whole-world coverage in one wrapper: US, developed and emerging markets, roughly 700 large- and mid-cap names, for 0.20% a year.blackrock.com
• That 0.20% fee sits well under the multifactor cohort median of 0.38%, and undercuts ex-US peers such as GSIE (0.25%) and RODM (0.29%).
• An optimizer, not a simple screen: the STOXX Global Equity Factor Index chases five factor exposures while keeping market risk close to the broad parent index.blackrock.com
• Live since 2015 and run by BlackRock's iShares desk, it stands among the stronger packages in its multifactor peer group.

Worth knowing

• FDEV Thinly traded. Spreads can quietly cost more than the fee, so limit orders matter more here than with the category's household names.
• A 2019 launch still in the mid-size asset range, so there is no decades-long record to lean on the way older international index funds offer.
• Blending four factors means none of them drives the bus. When value or momentum alone runs hot, this owns only a slice of that move.

• GLOF Trading is light next to mainstream global index funds, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than the headline fee suggests.
• The engine changed in March 2023, from an MSCI multi-factor index to the STOXX one, so the older track record reflects a different recipe.blackrock.com
• Factor tilts move on their own cycle and can diverge from a plain cap-weighted global index. Cash comes once or twice a year, not quarterly.

Full FDEV profile⁠

Full GLOF profile⁠