AVLC vs BAFE

AVLCAAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

BAFEBBrown Advisory Flexible Equity ETF

In short

AVLC Active management with index-fund manners: roughly 900 U.S. large caps, with the dial turned toward cheaper, more profitable companies. Avantis charges 0.15% a year to do it.

BAFE Brown Advisory's first ETF packages a decades-old bargain-hunting philosophy: buy good businesses when the market misprices them, whether screens call them value or growth. Roughly 40 names, 0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027.

Stated mandate

AVLC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It invests broadly in U.S. large-capitalization companies while using active decisions to overweight lower valuations and higher profitability.

BAFE The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

Why people hold it

• AVLC 0.15% a year against a 0.65% median for active U.S. equity funds. That is passive-style pricing on an actively run book.
• Holds about 900 names against the Russell 1000, so the value and profitability tilts sit on top of broad market exposure instead of a concentrated bet.avantisinvestors.com
• One of the stronger builds in the active U.S. equity group, priced in the same neighborhood as the Dimensional core funds (DFAU, DFAC) it competes with.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades steadily, so spreads and liquidity are rarely the sticking point. Distributions are paid quarterly.

• BAFE The flexible part is literal: it hunts bargains across large, mid and small caps and ignores the value/growth label, so a cheap good business qualifies either way.brownadvisory.combrownadvisory.com 2
• 0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027 (0.57% gross) lands below the US active equity median, which is lean for a hands-on stock picker.
• Roughly 40 holdings, so each name actually moves the fund. That is the point of hiring a stock picker instead of buying the whole market.
• It did not start from scratch: Brown Advisory seeded its November 2024 debut by converting taxable managed accounts, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund.seic.com

Worth knowing

• AVLC Launched in 2023. The tilt philosophy is well worn at Avantis, but this fund's own live record is still short.
• Active, not index-tracking. The Russell 1000 is a reference point, not a leash, so holdings and weights can drift from it.
• Leaning toward cheaper, higher-profitability companies means stretches where it moves differently from the plain cap-weighted market, in either direction.avantisinvestors.com

• BAFE Systematic rivals cost a fraction: DFAU runs 0.12%, AVLC 0.15%. Here the money buys human judgment, not a cheaper wrapper.
• Shares change hands lightly for a fund this size, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on headline ETFs.
• The philosophy predates the fund by decades, but the ETF itself opened in November 2024, so its own live record is short and payouts land once or twice a year.sec.gov

Full AVLC profile⁠

Full BAFE profile⁠