GEM vs QEMM

GEMBGoldman Sachs ActiveBeta Emerging Markets Equity ETF

QEMMBState Street SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets StrategicFactors ETF

In short

GEM Goldman's 2015 ETF debut class included this one: emerging markets screened through four factors (value, momentum, quality, low volatility) across roughly 700 names for 0.35% a year. A full-market map with tilts, not a concentrated bet.

QEMM Instead of betting on one factor, QEMM buys value, quality and low volatility across emerging markets at once, packing roughly 800 stocks into a single MSCI factor-blend index for 0.30% a year.

Stated mandate

GEM The Fund seeks to closely track, before fees and expenses, the Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta® Emerging Markets Equity Index, which provides exposure to equity securities of emerging-market issuers.

QEMM The fund seeks to track the MSCI Emerging Markets (EM) Factor Mix A-Series Index.

Why people hold it

• GEM Four factors at once: good value, strong momentum, high quality and low volatility, scored stock by stock and blended, so no single tilt runs the portfolio.gsam.com
• 0.35% a year, below the median for emerging-market multifactor funds, with no fee waiver doing the work: the gross and net numbers are the same.
• Roughly 700 holdings gives it the breadth of a core EM index fund rather than a narrow factor sleeve, and it has been a multi-billion-dollar fund trading since 2015.
• One of the stronger implementations in a crowded multifactor emerging-market field, and it tracks a single named index rather than a shifting in-house process.gsam.com

• QEMM One ticket, three tilts: the MSCI EM Factor Mix A-Series Index blends value, quality and low volatility, so no single style has to be in favor for the strategy to run as designed.ssga.com
• At 0.30% a year it undercuts the typical fee in the multifactor emerging-markets crowd, and the portfolio is built by index rules rather than a manager's hunch.
• Running since 2014 with roughly 800 holdings and State Street behind the wrapper: a long-lived option in a corner of the market where niche products often quietly close.
• The low-volatility sleeve is the tell. This is emerging-markets exposure assembled to smooth the ride, not to chase the hottest single factor.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• GEM Cheaper multifactor EM options exist: EMGF at 0.26% and FDEM at 0.25%, neither leaning on a waiver.
• Blending four factors mutes each one, so the tilt is gentler than a single-factor fund like AVES, which goes all in on value.
• Emerging-market stocks swing hard, and currency moves and country concentration come with the mandate. The factor screen tilts that exposure, it does not defuse it.

• QEMM Trades thinner than the category's household names, so spreads can be wider. That bites most on large or hurried orders.
• Splitting the bet three ways dilutes each factor by design, so the portfolio rarely looks or moves like a plain-vanilla emerging-markets index.
• Distributions land once or twice a year rather than quarterly, and peers such as EMGF carry a lower fee for multifactor EM exposure.

Full GEM profile⁠

Full QEMM profile⁠