Which returned more over the last year, DFAE or SPEM?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAE returned +26.0% and SPEM +13.7%.

Which is cheaper, DFAE or SPEM?

SPEM is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFAE and SPEM overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAE and 0% of SPEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

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DFAE vs SPEM: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFAE and SPEM hold 60% of their weight in the same names, and DFAE returned +26.0% over the year. Net assets: $9.5bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF, and $17.5bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF.

SPEM costs 0.22 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.3 points; SPEM is 1.8 times larger.

	DFAE	SPEM
Expense ratio	0.29%	0.07%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.5bn	$17.3bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.0%	+13.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	S&P Emerging BMI Index ?
Holdings in common	60%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	30.5%	26.5%
Below its high	5.0%, high on Jun 22, 2026

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

+26.0%

DFAE total return, 1 year

+13.7%

SPEM total return, 1 year

0.29%

DFAE expense ratio

0.07%

SPEM expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFAE and SPEM hold 60% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 8, 2026.

50%

half

60% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFAE SPEM

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 13.19% 15.00%

Tencent Holdings Limited 2.57% 2.58%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 1.20% 2.02%

MediaTek Inc. 0.97% 1.88%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.79% 0.87%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORPORATION 0.77% 0.96%

DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC. 0.62% 1.03%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.46% 0.55%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45% 0.68%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.44% 0.50%

XIAOMI CORPORATION 0.41% 0.42%

PDD Holdings Inc. 0.39% 0.47%

Only in DFAE

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 5.17%

SK hynix Inc. 4.54%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.67%

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED 0.40%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.39%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.35%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,LTD 0.33%

HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY 0.31%

Only in SPEM

DELTA ELECTRONICS THAI FORGN 0.32%

BAJAJ FINANCE LTD 0.27%

LARSEN + TOUBRO GDR REG S 0.24%

MAHINDRA + MAHINDRA SPON GDR 0.21%

BAIDU INC CLASS A HKD 0.20%

STATE BANK OF INDI GDR REG S 0.20%

ITAUSA SA 0.18%

SOUTHERN COPPER CORP 0.17%

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On the same fields

DFAE

Dimensional Emerging Core Equity Market ETF

SPEM

State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional State Street

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index

Total return, 1 year +26.0% +13.7%

S&P 500 over the same days +17.3% +17.3%

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.8 pts −3.6 pts

Expense ratio 0.29% 0.07%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6272 2746

Net assets, DFAE as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPEM as of Oct 8, 2026 $9.5bn $17.5bn

DFAE and SPEM on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

DFAE in plain words

DFAE is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.0% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.29% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 6,272 positions, with the top ten at 30.5%. It sat 5.0% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

SPEM in plain words

SPEM tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +13.7% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.07% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 8, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,746 positions, with the top ten at 26.5%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFAE or SPEM?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFAE returned +26.0% and SPEM +13.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFAE or SPEM?: SPEM is cheaper, by 0.22 percentage points a year. That is about $22 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFAE and SPEM overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFAE and 0% of SPEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFAE vs SCHE DFAE vs EMXC AVEM vs DFAE DFAE vs EEM EMGF vs SPEM SPEM vs VWO FNDE vs SPEM DFEM vs SPEM

DFAE on its own →SPEM on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFAE filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFAE prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗SPEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗SPEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗State Street website ↗

ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, DFAE against SPEM, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfae-vs-spem

Open data

Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.