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Is State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF (QEFA) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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The State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF (QEFA - Free Report) made its debut on 06/04/2014, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by State Street Investment Management, QEFA has amassed assets over $1.03 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the MSCI EAFE Factor Mix A-Series Index.
The MSCI EAFE Factor Mix A-Series Index captures large and mid-cap representation across 22 developed market Europe, Australasia, and Far East countries and aims to represent the performance of value, low volatility, and quality factor strategies.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.30% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.77%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.
Taking into account individual holdings, Asml Holding Nv (ASML) accounts for about 2.28% of the fund's total assets, followed by Novartis Ag Reg (NOVN) and Roche Holding Ag (ROP).
The top 10 holdings account for about 14.82% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 10.87% so far this year and was up about 15.44% in the last one year (as of 10/16/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $86.45 and $102.32
QEFA has a beta of 0.68 and standard deviation of 13.05% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 638 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Developed World ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) tracks MSCI EAFE Index and the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) tracks MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has $76.95 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has $190.24 billion. EFA has an expense ratio of 0.32% and IEFA changes 0.07%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Developed World ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Is State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF (QEFA) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF (QEFA - Free Report) made its debut on 06/04/2014, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by State Street Investment Management, QEFA has amassed assets over $1.03 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the MSCI EAFE Factor Mix A-Series Index.
The MSCI EAFE Factor Mix A-Series Index captures large and mid-cap representation across 22 developed market Europe, Australasia, and Far East countries and aims to represent the performance of value, low volatility, and quality factor strategies.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.30% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.77%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Most ETFs are very transparent products, and disclose their holdings on a daily basis. ETFs also offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, though it's still important for investors to research a fund's holdings.
Taking into account individual holdings, Asml Holding Nv (ASML) accounts for about 2.28% of the fund's total assets, followed by Novartis Ag Reg (NOVN) and Roche Holding Ag (ROP).
The top 10 holdings account for about 14.82% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 10.87% so far this year and was up about 15.44% in the last one year (as of 10/16/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $86.45 and $102.32
QEFA has a beta of 0.68 and standard deviation of 13.05% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 638 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
State Street SPDR MSCI EAFE StrategicFactors ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Developed World ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) tracks MSCI EAFE Index and the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) tracks MSCI EAFE Investable Market Index. iShares MSCI EAFE ETF has $76.95 billion in assets, iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF has $190.24 billion. EFA has an expense ratio of 0.32% and IEFA changes 0.07%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Developed World ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.