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What are Fundamental ETFs?

Key takeaways

  • Researching stocks one by one is a time-honored process that can help portfolio managers uncover insights before they're recognized by the broad market.
  • Fidelity's Fundamental ETFs use the latest technology-driven investment approaches to try to maximize those insights—combining high-conviction ideas from several managers into a single ETF.
  • These Fidelity ETFs also offer the competitive costs and potential tax efficiencies that have made ETFs so popular.

Invest in what you know.

This was the time-tested advice of Fidelity’s legendary fund manager Peter Lynch, who long espoused the value of putting in the work to research individual stocks.

Of course, many investors don’t have the time or inclination to spend their days digging through annual reports, so they entrust this work to professional fund managers—people who live and breathe stock analysis.

But taking this route can often lead investors to yet another dilemma: Which managers to invest with?

A line of Fidelity ETFs aims to help, by bringing together the top ideas from a team of active equity managers. And they’re being offered with the potential tax efficiencies and competitive prices that investors have come to expect from ETFs.

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The enduring appeal of fundamental analysis

The concept of researching stocks one by one, which is also known as “fundamental” or “bottom-up” analysis, is as old as the stock market itself.

Through deep-dive research into a company’s finances, competitive environment, advantages, and weaknesses, managers and analysts may be able to identify the winners or losers of tomorrow and position their investors to benefit accordingly.

A thoughtful, human stock picker can bring curiosity, perspective, and a steady hand through the unpredictable twists and turns of the market, providing unique potential value.

Distilling fund managers’ top ideas

At any given point in time, a particular fund manager might feel that a few stocks, or a few dozen stocks, could offer opportunity—depending on the market environment and their investing approach.

A set of active ETFs from Fidelity aims to consolidate such high-conviction ideas. Each ETF seeks to bring ideas from multiple managers into a single investment, so investors can access stock picks from active equity portfolio managers in one place.

For example, Fidelity® Fundamental Large Cap Core ETF () uses, as a starting point, the portfolios of about 10 different Fidelity fund managers who focus on large-cap stocks—all of whom have been hand-selected for their strong track records, consistency, and diversity of points of view (in addition to other characteristics). A technology-driven, systematic process then takes the highest-conviction ideas across those 10 managers’ portfolios and assembles them into a well-rounded portfolio that an investor could use as their main large-cap core investment.

“The aim is to give investors the best ideas, from a group of seasoned portfolio managers, in a single portfolio,” says Benjamin Treacy, institutional portfolio manager for Fidelity.

All of the Fundamental ETFs currently available follow a similar investment approach. Each one starts with a given asset class, like large-cap value stocks, or emerging-market stocks. A group of Fidelity fund managers who invest in that asset class is selected—with an emphasis on bringing in managers with diverse approaches and points of view, plus strong track records. The ETFs’ portfolios are built using a systematic process that identifies each manager’s high-conviction ideas, by comparing their holdings against their respective index.

Aiming for consistency and efficiency

The ETFs are managed to make sure they stay consistent to their respective asset classes and styles. This can help with the risk of “style drift,” which could occur if, say, a small-cap manager started to gravitate disproportionately toward large-cap stocks. They also provide diversification among managers and approaches, reducing the risk that one manager puts a significant dent in performance. Finally, they’re managed with an aim of consistently outperforming their respective indexes (though future performance is of course never guaranteed).

“This offers the collective wisdom of these portfolio managers,” says Treacy. “And the management process combines this wisdom with risk management and disciplined portfolio construction, with a goal to achieve more consistent results.”

In addition to that management process, they offer the benefits of an ETF structure, which are well-documented. In this case, what can be particularly helpful for long-term investors are the added potential tax efficiencies that ETFs can provide, such as the potential for fewer taxable capital gains distributions for buy-and-hold investors, and the ease of trading of an ETF structure.

Features of Fidelity Fundamental ETFs

Here is more on both the potential advantages and risks of the Fidelity Fundamental ETF lineup.

Building-block structure

By providing diversified, consistent exposure to a specific stock style, each ETF is structured so that investors can potentially use them as building blocks in constructing their long-term asset allocation.

Competitively priced access to active management

Thanks to efficiencies and the systematic management process, these ETFs can be offered at a competitive cost point.

Differentiated potential performance

Through the active stock selection of multiple underlying fund managers, the ETFs seek to help mitigate risks associated with a single-manager approach, while seeking to outperform their respective indexes. But as with any type of investing, there is no guarantee that these active ETFs will beat their indexes, and it is also possible they could underperform.

Diversification

In addition to providing broad diversification among individual stocks, sectors, and industries, these ETFs are also designed to provide diversification among managers, points of view, and investing approaches.

Potential tax efficiencies

Due to the unique process ETFs follow when creating and redeeming shares, ETFs can generate fewer, or lower, annual taxable distributions than traditional mutual funds.

Learn more

Investors interested in learning more can read more about ETFs, browse the full list of Fidelity ETFs, or search for ETFs that match their investment objective using Fidelity’s ETF ScreenerLog In Required.

Below is a complete list of Fidelity’s Fundamental ETFs, as of May 2025:

  • Fidelity® Fundamental Large Cap Core ETF ()
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Large Cap Growth ETF ()
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Large Cap Value ETF ()
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Small-Mid Cap ETF ()1
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Developed International ETF ()
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Emerging Markets ETF ()
  • Fidelity® Fundamental Global Ex-US ETF ()

Investors can view top-10 holdings, performance data, and other information by looking up each ETF’s ticker symbol on Fidelity.com.

1. These ETFs are different from traditional ETFs. Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. These ETFs will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. For example, you may have to pay more money to trade the shares of these ETFs. These ETFs will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information; the price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of each ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for these ETFs compared to other ETFs because they provide less information to traders; these additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions; each ETF will publish on Fidelity.com and i.Fidelity.com a "Tracking Basket" designed to help trading in shares of the ETF. While the Tracking Basket includes some of the ETF’s holdings, it is not the ETF’s actual portfolio. The differences between these ETFs and other ETFs may also have some advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETFs secret, they may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy their investment strategy. This may improve the ETFs’ performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETF’s investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETF’s performance. For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of these ETFs, see section below.

Find the right ETF for you

Use our screener to identify ETFs and ETPs that match your investment goals.

More to explore

Before investing in any mutual fund or exchange-traded fund, you should consider its investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses. Contact Fidelity for a prospectus, an offering circular, or, if available, a summary prospectus containing this information. Read it carefully.

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses.

Information provided in, and presentation of, this document are for informational and educational purposes only and are not a recommendation to take any particular action, or any action at all, nor an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or services presented. It is not investment advice. Fidelity does not provide legal or tax advice.

Before making any investment decisions, you should consult with your own professional advisers and take into account all of the particular facts and circumstances of your individual situation. Fidelity and its representatives may have a conflict of interest in the products or services mentioned in these materials because they have a financial interest in them, and receive compensation, directly or indirectly, in connection with the management, distribution, and/or servicing of these products or services, including Fidelity funds, certain third-party funds and products, and certain investment services.

ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses.

Additional information for semitransparent active equity ETFs: The objective of the actively managed ETF Tracking Basket is to construct a portfolio of stocks and representative index ETFs that tracks the daily performance of an actively managed ETF without exposing current holdings, trading activities, or internal equity research. The Tracking Basket is designed to conceal any nonpublic information about the underlying portfolio and only uses the fund’s latest publicly disclosed holdings, representative ETFs, and the publicly known daily performance in its construction. You can gain access to the Tracking Basket and the Tracking Basket Weight overlap on Fidelity.com or i.fidelity.com. Although the Tracking Basket is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the Fund at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the Fund, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV of the Fund; ETFs trading on the basis of a published Tracking Basket may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis, especially during periods of market disruption or volatility, and therefore may cost investors more to trade, and although the Fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information secret, market participants may attempt to use the Tracking Basket to identify a fund’s trading strategy, which, if successful, could result in such market participants engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the Fund and its shareholders. Because shares are traded in the secondary market, a broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction in shares, and an investor may incur the cost of the spread between the price at which a dealer will buy shares and the price at which a dealer will sell shares.

This information is intended to be educational and is not tailored to the investment needs of any specific investor.

Fidelity does not provide legal or tax advice. The information herein is general in nature and should not be considered legal or tax advice. Consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific situation.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Investing involves risk, including risk of loss.

Diversification and asset allocation do not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.

Views expressed are as of the date indicated, based on the information available at that time, and may change based on market or other conditions. Unless otherwise noted, the opinions provided are those of the speaker or author and not necessarily those of Fidelity Investments or its affiliates. Fidelity does not assume any duty to update any of the information.

Stock markets are volatile and can fluctuate significantly in response to company, industry, political, regulatory, market, or economic developments. Investing in stock involves risks, including the loss of principal.

Foreign securities are subject to interest rate, currency exchange rate, economic, and political risks.

Securities selected using quantitative analysis can perform differently from the market as a whole or securities selected using only fundamental analysis. The strategy may not achieve its intended results and could under-perform the market as a whole.

The value of securities of small and mid-cap, less well-known issuers can perform differently from the market as a whole and other types of stocks and can be more volatile than that of larger issuers.

The Fidelity ETF Screener is a research tool provided to help self-directed investors evaluate these types of securities. The criteria and inputs entered are at the sole discretion of the user, and all screens or strategies with preselected criteria (including expert ones) are solely for the convenience of the user. Expert Screeners are provided by independent companies not affiliated with Fidelity. Information supplied or obtained from these Screeners is for informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or guidance, an offer of or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities, or a recommendation or endorsement by Fidelity of any security or investment strategy. Fidelity does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy or approach to screening or evaluating stocks, preferred securities, exchange-traded products, or closed-end funds. Fidelity makes no guarantees that information supplied is accurate, complete, or timely, and does not provide any warranties regarding results obtained from its use. Determine which securities are right for you based on your investment objectives, risk tolerance, financial situation, and other individual factors, and reevaluate them on a periodic basis.

As with all your investments through Fidelity, you must make your own determination whether an investment in any particular security or securities is consistent with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, financial situation, and evaluation of the security. Fidelity is not recommending or endorsing this investment by making it available to its customers.

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