FESM vs OSCV

FESMAFidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF

OSCVCOpus Small Cap Value Plus ETF

In short

FESM A quant small-cap strategy that has been running since 2007 and moved into an ETF wrapper in 2023 with the same mandate. It nudges the Russell 2000 rather than copying it, and charges far less than the typical active small-cap fund.

OSCV Small-cap value with a filter. OSCV screens for yield plus growth and momentum rather than scooping up whatever is cheapest, and it has run that way since 2018 inside a peer group dominated by giant large-cap index trackers.

Stated mandate

FESM The fund is a diversified U.S. equity strategy focused on small-cap companies. It seeks to outperform its benchmark through a quantitative process that balances risk and return.

OSCV The Fund seeks capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• FESM Costs 0.28% a year, roughly half the median for active US small-cap ETFs. Cheap fuel for a strategy that only needs to beat its benchmark by a little.
• The strategy dates to 2007 as a Fidelity mutual fund and kept the same objective when it converted to an ETF in 2023. Long history, newer ticker.fidelity.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out tends to be straightforward. One of the stronger builds in the active small-cap group.
• Spreads across roughly 600 small-cap names, so no single blowup dominates. This is a diversified core sleeve, not a concentrated stock-picker bet.

• OSCV The 'Plus' is the point: an advertised yield-plus-growth screen with momentum layered on, so cheapness alone does not get a stock into the portfolio.
• Live since 2018, with a plainly stated prospectus objective (capital appreciation) and a portfolio that stays close to the strategy it advertises.
• Small-cap equity exposure, paid out on a quarterly cadence, in a corner of the market most funds in this factor group barely touch.

Worth knowing

• FESM Small caps are the choppiest corner of the US market, and this fund lives there full time. Expect a bumpier ride than a large-cap core holding.fidelity.com
• Enhanced index means small tilts around the Russell 2000, not a break from it. Results track close to the index rather than looking dramatically different.fidelity.com
• Cheap, but not the cheapest in the room: top-rated peers AVSC and AVUV run 0.25% and DUHP 0.20%.

• OSCV Active management costs: 0.79% a year, while the index-built names near the top of this peer group charge single-digit basis points (VYM 0.04%, VONV 0.06%).
• Small caps move harder in both directions than the large-cap blend funds it gets measured against, so expect a bumpier ride than the category average.
• Trades at moderate volume rather than mega-fund volume. Limit orders and market hours matter more here than with the household-name index ETFs.

Full FESM profile⁠

Full OSCV profile⁠