AVDS vs TILC

AVDSAAvantis International Small Cap Equity ETF

TILCBThrivent International Large Cap ETF

In short

AVDS Avantis casts a wide net: roughly 3,000 non-US developed small caps, weighted with an eye on price, profitability and how much cash companies plow back in. Active management that looks a lot like an index fund with its thumb on the scale.

TILC Thrivent's read on the developed world outside the US: an active, roughly 300-stock portfolio chosen by one model that weighs value, growth and momentum together, priced under the typical active international fund.

Stated mandate

AVDS The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a broad group of non-U.S. small-cap companies and considering valuation, profitability, and investment levels when selecting and weighting securities.

TILC The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• AVDS Charges 0.30% a year, about half the typical fee in its active international peer group. Cheap is a durable edge in a corner of the market where fees usually run high.
• Roughly 3,000 holdings, so no single stock or country steers the outcome. This is small-cap breadth, not a concentrated stock-picking bet.
• The tilts are the whole design: valuation, profitability and investment levels shape both what it owns and how much of each, measured against MSCI World ex USA Small Cap.avantisinvestors.com
• Sits among the strongest builds in a crowded field of active international equity funds. Broad, systematic, low-fee: the boxes that tend to stay ticked.

• TILC Costs 0.52% a year, below the median for actively managed international equity ETFs. Cheap-ish active, not boutique pricing.
• One model, three lenses. The manager screens developed-market large caps on value, growth and momentum instead of hitching the fund to a single style.
• Roughly 300 names, with at least 65% of assets in issuers from international developed markets. Broad by design, so no single holding carries the mandate.
• Sits in the upper half of the active international equity funds we review, with diversification and a contained risk profile doing the heavy lifting.

Worth knowing

• AVDS Thinly traded compared with the big international names. Limit orders and a look at the spread earn their keep here.
• Launched in 2023, so the live record is short even though the approach behind it is not new.
• Costs more than Avantis' broad international fund AVDE (0.23%). Small caps abroad are pricier to research and trade, and they swing harder.

• TILC Systematic rivals undercut it on fee: DFIC and AVDE run near 0.22% to 0.23%. You are paying up for Thrivent's factor model and stock picking.
• Trading is thin next to the category's household names, which usually means wider spreads at the moment you transact.
• Live history is short, so there is less track record to judge than the strategy's longer lineage suggests.

Full AVDS profile⁠

Full TILC profile⁠