Which returned more over the last year, DFEM or EEM?

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and EEM +26.3%.

Which is cheaper, DFEM or EEM?

DFEM is cheaper, by 0.33 percentage points a year. That is about $33 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do DFEM and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?

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

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DFEM vs EEM: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFEM and EEM hold 49% of their weight in the same names. Net assets: $9.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and $31.0bn on Oct 9, 2026 for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF.

DFEM costs 0.33 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 0.2 points; EEM is 3.3 times larger.

	DFEM	EEM
Expense ratio	0.39%	0.72%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.0bn	$29.2bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.1%	+26.3%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	MSCI Emerging Markets Index
Holdings in common	49%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.3%	38.9%
Below its high	4.3%, high on Jun 22, 2026	6.2%, high on Jun 22, 2026

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

+26.1%

DFEM total return, 1 year

+26.3%

EEM total return, 1 year

0.39%

DFEM expense ratio

0.72%

EEM expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFEM and EEM hold 49% 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

49% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFEM EEM

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 10.26% 16.02%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 4.40% 7.46%

SK hynix Inc. 4.25% 5.65%

Tencent Holdings Limited 1.95% 2.62%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.82% 1.82%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.46% 0.78%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45% 0.60%

MediaTek Inc. 0.41% 1.73%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.41% 0.66%

UNIMICRON TECHNOLOGY CORP. 0.39% 0.44%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.37% 0.43%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,LTD 0.37% 0.53%

Only in DFEM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.42%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.35%

VALE S.A. 0.33%

Kinsus Interconnect Technology Corp 0.29%

AL RAJHI BANKING AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION SJSC 0.25%

TAIWAN UNION TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION 0.23%

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) 0.20%

ORLEN SPOLKA AKCYJNA 0.20%

Only in EEM

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS NON VOTING PRE 0.95%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORP H 0.84%

SK SQUARE 0.59%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF 0.51%

ITAU UNIBANCO HOLDING PREF SA 0.43%

UNITED MICRO ELECTRONICS CORP 0.43%

BANK OF CHINA LTD H 0.42%

PETROLEO BRASILEIRO PREF SA 0.41%

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On the same fields

DFEM

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF

EEM

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer Dimensional iShares

What it is Actively managed Tracks an index of Emerging markets

Total return, 1 year +26.1% +26.3%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.9 pts +9.0 pts

Expense ratio 0.39% 0.72%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6672 1188

Net assets, DFEM as of Jul 31, 2026 and EEM as of Oct 9, 2026 $9.0bn $31.0bn

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

DFEM in plain words

DFEM is actively managed and tracks no index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.1% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.39% 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 6,672 positions, with the top ten at 24.3%. It sat 4.3% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

EEM in plain words

EEM tracks an index of Emerging markets. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +26.3% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.72% 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 1,188 positions, with the top ten at 38.9%. It sat 6.2% below its high of Jun 22, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, DFEM or EEM?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and EEM +26.3%.
Which is cheaper, DFEM or EEM?: DFEM is cheaper, by 0.33 percentage points a year. That is about $33 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFEM and EEM overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFEM and 0% of EEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFEM vs EMXC DFEM vs SPEM DFEM vs SCHE DFEM vs FNDE EEM vs EMGF EEM vs JHEM EEM vs IEMG EEM vs FNDE

DFEM on its own →EEM on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →Standards and sources →

Where these figures came from

DFEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗DFEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗Dimensional website ↗EEM filings on SEC EDGAR ↗EEM prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗iShares page for EEM ↗

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, DFEM against EEM, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfem-vs-eem

Open data

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