AGQI vs AVGE

AGQIDFirst Trust Active Global Quality Income ETF

AVGEAAvantis All Equity Markets ETF

In short

AGQI A 2015 European income closed-end fund that shed its old wrapper in 2023 and came back as a global active ETF. Janus Henderson picks roughly 40 dividend payers worldwide, screened on returns, leverage and payout discipline rather than headline yield.

AVGE Avantis's whole-world equity portfolio in one ticker: a fund built from its own factor ETFs across US, developed and emerging markets, tilted toward smaller and cheaper stocks, at 0.23% a year with no waiver involved.

Stated mandate

AGQI The Fund seeks income together with long-term capital-growth potential, investing primarily in income-producing equity securities.

AVGE The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through a broadly diversified equity portfolio. It invests directly or through Avantis ETFs and emphasizes companies expected to offer higher returns or better risk characteristics than a passive, market-cap-weighted index.

Why people hold it

• AGQI Born in 2015 as a European income closed-end fund, converted to an ETF in 2023. Shares now create and redeem at NAV, so the old discount-to-NAV gap goes away.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Janus Henderson's income team runs the book: dividend payers screened on return on equity and invested capital, financial leverage and payout ratio, not just fat yields.sec.gov
• Roughly 40 holdings, deliberately tilted toward companies economically tied to countries outside the US. Distributions come quarterly.ftportfolios.com

• AVGE One ticker, the whole map: it owns a series of other Avantis ETFs spanning US, developed international and emerging markets.avantisinvestors.com
• 0.23% a year, below the typical global active equity fund, and that is the real number, not a temporary waiver.
• No closet indexing. The mandate emphasizes companies Avantis expects to offer higher returns or better risk traits than a passive, cap-weighted index.ifa.com
• Sits among the strongest implementations in its global active equity peer group, and it pays shareholders quarterly.

Worth knowing

• AGQI The 0.85% fee is real active-manager money in a group where broad rivals like GSWO (0.15%) and DFAW (0.24%) cover global equity for a sliver of that.sec.gov
• Thinly traded for its size. Spreads can widen, so limit orders do work that market orders will not.
• Concentrated and global by design: up to 20% of net assets can sit in emerging markets, and currency swings land in your return either way.sec.gov

• AVGE At the fund level you hold a handful of Avantis ETFs, so the stock-level diversification is look-through and one firm's research drives the entire stack.avantisinvestors.com
• The prospectus targets roughly 70% US equity (band 63% to 77%), so the geographic mix follows Avantis's policy rather than global market weights.ifa.com
• A close sibling, AVTM, covers total equity markets at 0.22% with no waiver attached.

Full AGQI profile⁠

Full AVGE profile⁠