AVLC vs KEAT

AVLCAAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

KEATDKeating Active 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.

KEAT A boutique stock picker in a corner of the market dominated by giant quant shops. Keating runs a hand-built equity portfolio chasing both income and growth, and charges active-management prices to do it.

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.

KEAT The Fund seeks total return through income and 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.

• KEAT Genuinely active, not an index in disguise: holdings come from fundamental research, one company at a time, rather than a rules-based screen.
• A two-sided mandate. It targets total return from income and capital appreciation, and distributions are paid on a quarterly schedule.
• Wide toolkit for an equity fund: common stock, preferred shares, REITs and depositary receipts all sit inside the mandate, so the income can come from more than one place.

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

• KEAT The 0.85% fee sits above the typical active US equity fund at 0.65%, and well above the cohort's highest-rated names: DFAU at 0.12%, AVLC at 0.15%, DFAC at 0.17%.
• Thinly traded and small. Bid-ask spreads tend to be wider on funds like this, which adds a cost that never shows up in the expense ratio.
• Launched in 2024, so the record is short. There is not yet enough history to see how the manager's picks behave across a full market cycle.

Full AVLC profile⁠

Full KEAT profile⁠