International equities may have been overlooked amid the recent surge in active ETF popularity — until now. The active international ETF TOUS has gotten off to a hot start in 2025, sending a buy signal with strong tech chart momentum. Its performance has drawn the eye while also crossing $100 million in AUM over the last month. To understand its approach and the intriguing merits of active ETFs investing abroad, a cross-section of its holdings in three stocks could help.
See more: Active Tech ETF TTEQ’s Approach in 3 Stocks
The T. Rowe Price International Equity ETF (TOUS ) launched in June 2023. The strategy charges only a 50 basis point fee to invest in approximately 150 stocks. Specifically, its managers are looking for firms with high potential earnings, quality business models, and attractive pricing.
That team actively invests, applying a fundamental, bottom-up approach that could help it identify strong global firms. What’s more, the active approach could really prove its worth relative to passive funds that can’t adapt to changing market environments. Investing abroad can potentially expose investors to more volatility, with less information available when navigating foreign markets.
That approach has helped the active international ETF return 9.8% YTD, per YCharts data as of February 24, 2025. What kind of stocks, then, does TOUS hold, and how might that inform investors about its start to the year?
Right off the bat, investors can find ASML Holdings (ASML) in the ETF’s holdings. ASML has returned 6.59% YTD, per YCharts data. The firm provides highly specialized photolithography services to semiconductor manufacturers. Right now, it offers a healthy forward price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39 and 49.4% return on equity.
TOUS also holds some stock from Sanofi SA (SNY), with that firm performing even better than ASML. SNY, a pharmaceutical research and development company, has returned 12.9% YTD, according to YCharts. Its relatively low price speaks to its attractiveness, with its upside located largely in emerging markets, per YCharts analysis.
Finally, the ETF also allocates some portion of its assets to Siemens AG (SIE). Looking to YCharts data once more, SIE has returned a significant 21.8% YTD. With a focus on automation, mobility, and electrification, it has offered 54.27% diluted earnings-per-share growth over five years.
Together, those three firms illustrate TOUS’s broad remit, focusing on star performers meeting its standards. The active international ETF could provide a compelling opportunity to diversify outside U.S. stocks and merits a closer look from investors.
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