Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap Core ETF

FESM

Market cap $5.33B

Active ETFs continue to experience explosive industry growth, and Fidelity is positioning itself as a leader. Fidelity has been long known for its fundamental stock-picking based active strategies, built on a rich heritage of deep company research.

Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap Core ETF is an actively managed small-cap fund aiming to outperform the Russell 2000 using a multi-factor approach. FESM has consistently outperformed the Russell 2000, Russell 2000 Value, and Russell 2000 Growth indexes over 10 years. While FESM leads key competitors over 3 years, it slightly trails AVUV over 5 years and RWJ over 10 years.

Passive investing's central promise is hard to argue with: low costs, broad diversification, and returns that match the market.

Fidelity Investments just bolstered their Enhanced ETF lineup with four new funds, targeting mid- and small-cap equities with factor tilts. These actively managed funds offer investors sophisticated tools for better-than-passive performance.

June is typically reserved for graduation processionals, with the “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D” blaring from PA systems or high-fidelity systems (depending on how well-funded the school is).

On this episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi's Head of Research, Todd Rosenbluth, discussed the Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF (FESM) with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life. The pair discussed several topics related to the fund to give investors a deeper understanding of the ETF.

VettaFi's Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth discussed the Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF (FESM) on this week's “ETF of the Week” podcast with Chuck Jaffe of “Money Life.” For more news, information, and strategy, visit the ETF Investing Content Hub.

Small-cap stocks are finally having their moment. After years of mega-cap tech dominance, the Russell 2000 is surging in the first week of 2026, outpacing both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.

Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF (FESM) employs a multi-factor, growth-tilted strategy, consistently outperforming the Russell 2000 and peers over 3- and 5-year periods.

Fidelity Enhanced Small Cap ETF employs a proprietary multi-factor approach to select and weight nearly 600 U.S. small-cap stocks. FESM has consistently outperformed the Russell 2000, Russell 2000 Value, and Russell 2000 Growth indexes over the past decade. While FESM's recent returns are strong, RWJ and AVUV have more compelling track records.