FDEV vs OEFA

FDEVAFidelity International Multifactor ETF

OEFADALPS O'Shares International Developed Quality Dividend 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.

OEFA A tight, opinionated take on foreign dividends: roughly 50 developed-market large and mid caps that clear a quality screen first, income second. Running since 2015, and it sticks closely to the index on the label.

Stated mandate

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

OEFA OEFA seeks to track the O'Shares International Developed Quality Dividend Index, providing access to high-quality, dividend-paying large- and mid-cap companies in developed ex-US markets.

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.

• OEFA Roughly 50 names, not hundreds. A quality screen does the filtering, then dividend-paying large and mid caps from developed markets outside the US fill the book.
• Sticks closely to the O'Shares International Developed Quality Dividend Index it advertises, so the name on the tin matches what is actually inside.
• Trading since 2015, with a real record through several market moods, and it pays on a quarterly schedule.

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.

• OEFA At 0.48% a year it costs more than the typical international multifactor fund (0.38% median), and well above cheap peers like INTF at 0.16% or GSIE at 0.25%.
• A small fund that trades thinly, so bid-ask spreads and order size matter more here than with the category's giants.
• Roughly 50 stocks cuts both ways: individual names, sectors and currencies move this portfolio more than they would a broad developed-markets index.

Full FDEV profile⁠

Full OEFA profile⁠