FDEV vs QINT

FDEVAFidelity International Multifactor ETF

QINTCAmerican Century Quality Diversified 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.

QINT American Century wrote its own index for this one: roughly 400 non-US stocks screened for quality, then tilted toward growth or value as conditions shift. A factor fund built to move with the weather rather than hold one fixed blend.

Stated mandate

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

QINT The fund tracks the American Century Quality Diversified International Equity Index. Its index methodology seeks international core exposure by excluding lower-quality stocks and selecting companies with attractive quality, growth and value 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.

• QINT Rules-based but not static: the methodology excludes lower-quality stocks, then adjusts growth and value exposure as the prevailing market environment changes.americancentury.com
• Roughly 400 holdings across developed markets outside the US, and the portfolio has stayed closely aligned with the index it advertises.
• Fee is 0.34% a year, near what this peer group typically charges, with no waiver in place, so it isn't a number that expires on a date.
• Running since 2018 with a multi-hundred-million-dollar asset base and quarterly distributions. Not a launch-week experiment.

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.

• QINT Several peers undercut it on price: GSWO at 0.15%, INTF at 0.16% and DFAI at 0.18%, none of them leaning on a waiver.
• The index is American Century's own, so the quality screen is a house view. The fact sheet also notes the fund bears losses or costs caused by index errors.americancentury.com
• Moderately traded rather than a category heavyweight, which can mean wider spreads than the largest international factor funds.

Full FDEV profile⁠

Full QINT profile⁠