FDEV vs GSWO

FDEVAFidelity International Multifactor ETF

GSWOAGoldman Sachs ActiveBeta World Equity 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.

GSWO Four factor tilts (value, momentum, quality, low volatility) on developed markets outside the US, for 15 basis points. Goldman's ActiveBeta rules at a price closer to an index fund than an active one.

Stated mandate

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

GSWO The fund is an ActiveBeta World Equity ETF designed to track an ActiveBeta Index and provide exposure to value, momentum, quality, and low-volatility characteristics.

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.

• GSWO 0.15% a year against a 0.69% median for its global active-equity peers, and cheaper than fellow top-graded names DFAW (0.24%) and AVGE (0.25%).
• Value, momentum, quality and low volatility come from one published ActiveBeta index methodology, not a manager's discretionary call.gsam.com
• Stands among the strongest implementations in its global equity peer group: a multi-billion-dollar fund in the standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper that pays quarterly.

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.

• GSWO Despite the "World" name, the reference index is MSCI World ex USA, so US stocks sit outside the mandate.
• Launched in 2022, so the live record is short, and factor blends can trail plain cap-weighted benchmarks for long stretches.
• Four factors in one basket can pull against each other; the net tilt is milder than a single-factor fund.

Full FDEV profile⁠

Full GSWO profile⁠