Fund Evaluator:

SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) Overview

SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) (SMQFX) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts fund. SEI launched the fund in 2014.

The investment seeks capital appreciation. Under normal circumstances, the fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of emerging market issuers. Equity securities may include common stocks, preferred stocks, warrants, participation notes, depositary receipts and REITs. It normally maintains investments in at least six emerging market countries, however, it may invest a substantial amount of its assets in issuers located in a single country or a limited number of countries.

About SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) (SMQFX)

There are 20 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.22 years: Jason Collins (2016), Arjun Jayaraman (2014), MacDuff Kuhnert (2014), Glen Finegan (2026), Ian Tabberer (2026), Stephen Lew (2014), James Johnstone (2015), Karnail Sangha (2021), Joe Gubler (2014), Stephen Deane (2026), John Malloy (2015), Ronan Kelleher (2026), Michael Cahoon (2026), Ryan Myers (2021), Ivo Kovachev (2014), Rich Carr (2024), David Zhang (2024), Jaap van der Hart (2021), Emery Brewer (2014), Nicholas Cowley (2026). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI ACWI Ex USA NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI Frontier Emerging Market NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has 415 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 27.6% 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.

SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has 97.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.4%. There is 97.9% 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). SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has 1.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $700 million in total assets, which is below 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.

SMQFX 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 SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has an expense ratio of 0.63%, which is 45% 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. SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has a portfolio turnover rate of 54%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 68% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) returned -3.0%, which earned it a grade of B, 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.

SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) has a trailing yield of 4.00%, which is above the 1.72% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually 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.

SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT) Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 18.6%, 0.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 36.9% over the past year (grade of C), 22.0% over the past three years (grade of A) and 11.5% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 10.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about SEI Emerging Markets Equity A (SIIT), including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.