Bridgeway's BRSV is a converted 2003 fund, not a new small-cap value strategy

Bridgeway has spent 22 years gathering $306 million in a statistical small-cap value strategy. That book is now the EA Bridgeway Select Small-Cap Value ETF —BRSV, listed Monday, July 27, at 0.79%: 11 basis points cheaper than the mutual fund, and more than three times the 0.25% on Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF AAVUV, which holds $31.3 billion. Dimensional's U.S. Small Cap Value ETF ADFSV holds $8.34 billion at 0.30%.

The ETF started trading on Cboe that Monday as the listed successor to Bridgeway Small-Cap Value Fund. On or about July 24, it took in the mutual fund's assets and known liabilities, adopted that fund's performance and financial history, and had not operated before the reorganization. The $306 million as of Wednesday is capital that crossed with the old fund, not money that arrived to fund a new idea.

Bridgeway Capital Management sub-advises the portfolio inside EA Series Trust. The same morning, two other Bridgeway mutual funds listed as ETFs: Aggressive Investors —BAGX and Ultra-Small Company Market —BUSM. Bridgeway frames the vehicles as a way to hold its statistical equity strategies in a more tax-efficient wrapper. A February SEC supplement said the reorganizations were expected to be tax-free for federal purposes, except where fractional shares had to be cashed out.

Omni already charges 0.45%

The 0.79% has no waiver on the summary prospectus. That is the sort of cut that looks like a sale until it is placed next to what already trades.

Bridgeway already lists EA Bridgeway Omni Small-Cap Value ETF ABSVO, converted from a tax-managed small-cap value mutual fund in March 2023. Omni charges 0.45%, the figure on Bridgeway's June 30 factsheet, holds 630 stocks, and is built as a broad, market-cap-weighted value book. Select is the narrower, model-driven sleeve of the same shop. The fee gap between the two is 34 basis points a year.

Outside Bridgeway, Vanguard Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF BVBR tracks the Morningstar US Small Cap Value Index at 0.05%. As of August 31, Vanguard reported $68.2 billion across share classes and $37.3 billion in the ETF. None of that is an obscure sleeve. The money in this category already sits in cheaper products.

—BRSV has been trading about $1.3 million a day. That is enough for a small ticket and thin enough that the bid-ask spread is part of the cost.

What 22 years of BRSVX returns show

Anything longer than the ETF's own trading history is the mutual fund's record, which Bridgeway now publishes as the ETF's and which, the firm notes, was earned at a higher fee.

As of March 31, 2026, the predecessor's average annual return was 8.82% since October 31, 2003, against 8.35% for the Russell 2000 Value Index, per Bridgeway's own table. Over 10 years it returned 11.75% a year versus 9.61% for the index; over five years, 7.40% versus 5.79%. Over three years it returned 8.55% versus 13.80%, and over one year 21.76% versus 28.09%. Those figures are net of the mutual fund's 0.90% expense ratio. The model led its index over the long windows and trailed it over one and three years.

Shares were at $43.49 Thursday morning Eastern, down 0.49% on the session. Since the first close on July 27, total return is -2.4%. That is the ETF's own record.

No index, no published weights

—BRSV is actively managed. There is no index, no published weighting formula, and no rebalance calendar. Bridgeway ranks stocks on value, quality, and sentiment, and can nudge a weight with third-party ESG scores when the data is there. The prospectus says those scores are not solely determinative.

If you held the mutual fund in an account that can own ETFs, you now hold a cheaper share of the same statistical process, with the tax treatment of an ETF. If you did not, you are being asked to pay a premium over funds that already hold the category's money, on a record that only sometimes beat the Russell 2000 Value Index. The ticker is new. The hurdle is the fee.