ETF Evaluator: State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF (SPEM) Follow This ETF

State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF Overview

State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF (SPEM) is a passively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts exchange-traded fund (ETF). State Street Investment Management launched the ETF in 2007.

The investment seeks investment results that, before fees and expenses, correspond generally to the total return performance of the S&P Emerging BMI Index. The fund generally invests substantially all, but at least 80%, of its total assets in the securities comprising the index and in depositary receipts based on securities comprising the index. The index is a float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index designed to define and measure the investable universe of publicly traded companies domiciled in emerging markets.

About State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF (SPEM)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.98 years: Emiliano Rabinovich (2024), Olga Winner (2025) and Karl Schneider (2015). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI ACWI Ex USA NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and S&P Emerging BMI NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has 3000 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 26.2% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity ETF group. State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has 99.1% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.5% There is 99.1% 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). State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has 0.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $17 billion in total assets, which is above the $3 billion 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.

SPEM 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 State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has an expense ratio of 0.07%, which is 86% 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. State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 1%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 1.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 44% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF returned -1.2%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of -1.0%. 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 ETFs in that category.

State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF has a trailing yield of 2.53%, which is above the 2.36% category average. The fund normally distributes its income semi-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.

State Street® SPDR® Portfolio EM ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 10.8%, 10.4 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 24.0% over the past year (grade of D), 17.6% over the past three years (grade of D) and 5.5% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 9.1% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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