JHEM vs QEMM

JHEMCJohn Hancock Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF

QEMMBState Street SPDR MSCI Emerging Markets StrategicFactors ETF

In short

JHEM Dimensional designs the index, John Hancock wraps it in an ETF: roughly 900 emerging-market stocks, sorted country by country toward cheaper, more profitable, smaller companies. Fee is 0.49%, net of a waiver through July 31, 2027.

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

JHEM The fund seeks, before fees and expenses, investment results that closely correspond to the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Emerging Markets Index.

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

Why people hold it

• JHEM Dimensional Fund Advisors builds and maintains the index, classifying stocks country by country on market cap, relative price and profitability.sec.gov
• Wide net: roughly 900 names drawn from the top 80% of each eligible country's market cap, with frontier markets allowed in.sec.gov
• 0.49% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.58% before it) lands near the category median fee.
• Running since 2018 on the same Dimensional index, so there is a real multi-year record behind the rules.

• 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

• JHEM Cheaper routes to emerging-market factors exist: EMGF charges 0.26% and FDEM 0.25%, neither under a waiver.
• Dimensional sells the value tilt directly now, via DFEV at 0.43% net of a waiver through February 28, 2027.
• Distributions come once or twice a year, not quarterly, and the frontier-market allowance can pull in thinner markets.sec.gov

• 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 JHEM profile⁠

Full QEMM profile⁠