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

In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and SPEM +13.7%.

Which is cheaper, DFEM or SPEM?

SPEM is cheaper, by 0.32 percentage points a year. That is about $32 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

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

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

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DFEM vs SPEM: Differences, Returns & Fees

DFEM and SPEM hold 51% of their weight in the same names, and DFEM returned +26.1% over the year. Net assets: $9.0bn on Jul 31, 2026 for Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 ETF, and $17.5bn on Oct 8, 2026 for State Street SPDR Portfolio Emerging Markets ETF.

SPEM costs 0.32 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 12.4 points; SPEM is 1.9 times larger.

	DFEM	SPEM
Expense ratio	0.39%	0.07%
Net assets, as of Jul 31, 2026	$9.0bn	$17.3bn
Total return, 1 year	+26.1%	+13.7%
What it tracks	No index, actively managed	S&P Emerging BMI Index ?
Holdings in common	51%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.3%	26.5%
Below its high	4.3%, 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

+13.7%

SPEM total return, 1 year

0.39%

DFEM expense ratio

0.07%

SPEM expense ratio

What they hold in common

By the books each fund has filed, DFEM and SPEM hold 51% 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

51% in common

Positions both hold, largest shared weight first

Holding DFEM SPEM

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited 10.26% 15.00%

Tencent Holdings Limited 1.95% 2.58%

Alibaba Group Holding Limited 0.82% 2.02%

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK CORPORATION 0.75% 0.96%

HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD. 0.46% 0.87%

ICICI BANK LIMITED 0.45% 0.68%

MediaTek Inc. 0.41% 1.88%

UNIMICRON TECHNOLOGY CORP. 0.39% 0.49%

BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED 0.37% 0.50%

DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC. 0.36% 1.03%

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. 0.48% 0.36%

INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF CHINA LIMITED 0.35% 0.55%

Only in DFEM

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 4.40%

SK hynix Inc. 4.25%

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 0.42%

HDFC BANK LIMITED 0.41%

SAMSUNG ELECTRO-MECHANICS CO.,LTD 0.37%

Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) 0.36%

HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY 0.32%

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED 0.27%

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%

ITAUSA SA 0.18%

SOUTHERN COPPER CORP 0.17%

FORMOSA CHEMICALS + FIBRE 0.14%

Check overlap with more funds →

On the same fields

DFEM

Dimensional Emerging Markets Core Equity 2 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 +26.1% +13.7%

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

Gap to the S&P 500 +8.9 pts −3.6 pts

Expense ratio 0.39% 0.07%

Already in the S&P 500 0.0% 0.0%

Holdings 6672 2746

Net assets, DFEM as of Jul 31, 2026 and SPEM as of Oct 8, 2026 $9.0bn $17.5bn

DFEM and SPEM 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.

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, DFEM or SPEM?: In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, DFEM returned +26.1% and SPEM +13.7%.
Which is cheaper, DFEM or SPEM?: SPEM is cheaper, by 0.32 percentage points a year. That is about $32 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do DFEM and SPEM overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 0% of DFEM and 0% of SPEM by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

DFEM vs SCHE DFEM vs EMXC AVEM vs DFEM DFEM vs EEM EMXC vs SPEM EEM vs SPEM SPEM vs XCEM DFEV vs SPEM

DFEM on its own →SPEM 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 ↗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, DFEM against SPEM, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/dfem-vs-spem

Open data

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