FENI vs GSWO

FENIBFidelity Enhanced International ETF

GSWOAGoldman Sachs ActiveBeta World Equity ETF

In short

FENI Fidelity ran this quant strategy as a mutual fund from 2007, then moved it into an ETF wrapper in 2023. Same job either way: start from the shape of MSCI EAFE developed markets, then let statistical models tilt the roughly 300 names.

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

FENI The fund seeks to outperform its benchmark through a quantitative process balancing risk and return. It uses multifactor statistical models to select companies with desirable fundamental characteristics.

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

• FENI Charges 0.28% a year against a 0.38% median for international multifactor funds. Cheaper running costs were part of Fidelity's stated case for the ETF conversion.fidelity.com
• Sixteen years of live history before it ever traded on an exchange. The 2007 mutual fund carried identical objectives and fundamental policies into the November 2023 ETF.sec.gov
• Active, but not adventurous. Multifactor models hunt for companies with desirable fundamentals while the MSCI EAFE benchmark anchors the portfolio. Roughly 300 holdings, quarterly distributions.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, sitting in the upper half of a crowded international multifactor field.

• 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

• FENI Cheaper multifactor options share the shelf, including Fidelity's own FDEV at 0.18% and iShares' INTF at 0.16%.
• "Enhanced" means a quant team's models set the tilts, not a published index rulebook, so the portfolio can drift from MSCI EAFE in either direction.
• Developed markets outside the US are the whole mandate. Emerging markets are not part of the job description.

• 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 FENI profile⁠

Full GSWO profile⁠