Fund Evaluator:

DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port Overview

DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port (DFESX) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts fund. Dimensional Fund Advisors launched the fund in 2006.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets equity securities that are defined in the prospectus as Approved Markets securities. It may gain exposure to companies in Approved Markets by purchasing equity securities in the form of depositary receipts, which may be listed or traded outside the issuer's domicile country.

About DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port (DFESX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 11.08 years: Jed Fogdall (2010), Allen Pu (2015), Mary Phillips (2017), William Collins-Dean (2019). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has 5942 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 28.6% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has 98.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.7%. There is 98.3% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has 1.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $2 billion in total assets, which is above the $967 million average for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

DFESX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has an expense ratio of 0.44%, which is 62% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has a portfolio turnover rate of 5%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.2 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 68% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port returned -7.7%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of -4.9%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port has a trailing yield of 2.38%, which is above the 1.72% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

DFA Emerging Markets Social Core Port Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 16.5%, 2.6 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 30.9% over the past year (grade of D), 17.6% over the past three years (grade of C) and 8.4% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 9.1% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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