FDEV vs JHMD

FDEVAFidelity International Multifactor ETF

JHMDCJohn Hancock Multifactor Developed International 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.

JHMD A Dimensional-designed index in a John Hancock wrapper: roughly 600 large developed-market stocks outside North America, weighted toward the smaller, cheaper, more profitable end of the pool. Factor investing from the firm that wrote the playbook, in plain index form.

Stated mandate

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

JHMD The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Developed International Index.

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.

• JHMD The index sorts stocks by free-float market cap, price/book and operating income over book, then weights toward smaller, cheaper, more profitable companies.jhinvestments.com
• Roughly 600 large-cap names outside North America, reconstituted and rebalanced twice a year, so the tilts get refreshed on a schedule instead of drifting.jhinvestments.com
• Trading since December 2016, giving it close to a decade of live history running a Dimensional-built index in ETF form.sec.gov

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.

• JHMD Fee is 0.39%, net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.43% gross). Near the category median, but above GSWO at 0.15%, INTF at 0.16% and DFAI at 0.18%.
• Ex-North America means Canada is out along with the US, so this is a slice of the developed world rather than a complete non-US sleeve.jhinvestments.com
• Mid-sized and moderately traded, and its home markets are shut during US hours, so spreads can widen around the US open and close.

Full FDEV profile⁠

Full JHMD profile⁠