AVLC vs FMCX

AVLCAAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

FMCXDFM Focus 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.

FMCX A rare active ETF that keeps its cards face down: FMCX runs 25-35 high-conviction US stocks and files holdings quarterly like a mutual fund, with a verified intraday value published every second. First Manhattan's first fund, launched 2022.

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.

FMCX The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

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.

• FMCX Non-transparent by design: holdings go to the SEC quarterly, not daily, while a verified intraday value ticks every second so market makers can still price shares.sec.gov
• Genuinely concentrated: 25-35 US exchange-listed common stocks of any market cap under normal conditions, picked by First Manhattan's research bench. No closet indexing.sec.gov
• At 0.72%, the fee sits near the category median for US active equity, even with a concentrated, individually researched portfolio behind it.
• Brings a long-established private advisory firm's separate-account research process into an ETF wrapper; FMCX was the firm's debut fund in 2022.businesswire.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

• FMCX Thinly traded. Spreads and premiums or discounts to fair value carry more weight here than at high-volume peers, and larger orders can move the price.
• You see the portfolio quarterly, not every morning. That is the trade for the structure: more weight on the manager's process, less on your own eyeballs.sec.gov
• Cost sits well above the category's cheapest top-graded options, such as DFAU at 0.12% and AVLC at 0.15%, which spread risk across far more names.

Full AVLC profile⁠

Full FMCX profile⁠