IVSX vs TACN

IVSXDApplied Finance IVS International SMID ETF

TACNAT. Rowe Price Active Core International Equity ETF

In short

IVSX Applied Finance aims its intrinsic-value engine at a corner most international funds skim past: small and mid-cap companies listed overseas. A boutique valuation shop's process, wrapped in a 2026-launch ETF.

TACN T. Rowe Price's index-aware take on developed international stocks: it shadows the MSCI EAFE benchmark while nudging weights, and the fee is waived to 0.00% through January 30, 2027 (0.20% gross).

Stated mandate

IVSX Seeks to invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small- to mid-capitalization (SMID) companies.

TACN The fund's goal is to achieve long-term capital growth.

Why people hold it

• IVSX Built on Applied Finance's Economic Margin work, which values a company using a firm-specific profit horizon instead of the perpetuity assumptions baked into standard DCF math.appliedfinance.comappliedfinance.com 2
• The mandate is specific: at least 80% of net assets in small- and mid-cap equities. You get the SMID exposure named on the tin, not quiet drift into familiar large caps.
• Ordinary 1940 Act fund structure, the same plumbing as a mainstream index ETF, so there is no exotic wrapper to decode before you look at the holdings.

• TACN Fee waived to zero through January 30, 2027, then the 0.20% gross rate applies. Top-scoring active international peers AVDE (0.23%) and DFIC (0.22%) charge more, with no waiver.troweprice.com
• Built around the MSCI EAFE Index: an optimizer modestly over- and underweights names, targeting tracking error above most passive funds and below most active ones.sec.govtroweprice.com
• Names come from T. Rowe's quant models plus bottom-up fundamental research (valuation, profitability, financial stability, earnings quality), with at least 80% of net assets normally in equities.sec.govtroweprice.com
• Despite being new, it already stands among the strongest-rated funds in a crowded active international equity group, with long-term capital growth as the stated goal.

Worth knowing

• IVSX The 0.75% fee sits above the middle of its active international peer group, and rules-based foreign small-cap options run cheaper (AVDS charges 0.30%). That is the toll for stock picking.
• It started trading in 2026, so there is little live history behind the process in this sleeve, and risk readings rest on a short record.
• A small asset base and light trading mean spreads can widen at the wrong moment, and funds that stay subscale are the ones issuers tend to close.

• TACN Launched December 10, 2025, so the track record is short and assets are still small. Trading is thin, which can mean wider spreads than at big index rivals.
• The zero fee is contractual, not permanent: it runs through January 30, 2027, after which the 0.20% gross expense ratio kicks in.troweprice.com
• Low tracking error is the design, not a bug. The active tilt is deliberately modest, so the portfolio is built to hug EAFE rather than stray from it.sec.gov

Full IVSX profile⁠

Full TACN profile⁠