AVLC vs RVER

AVLCAAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

RVERDTrenchless Fund 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.

RVER A 12-to-30 stock picker in an ETF wrapper: River1 hunts U.S. listed names it rates as having an above-average chance of outperforming the S&P 500, and charges 0.66% to do it. Non-diversified, so individual holdings carry real weight.

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.

RVER The Fund seeks capital appreciation. The available current prospectus evidence does not establish a sufficiently specific underlying, geography, sector, factor screen, or strategy descriptor for a supplied cohort.

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.

• RVER Genuinely active, not closet indexing. The book typically runs 12 to 30 stocks, so each pick actually moves the fund rather than getting buried in an index.stockanalysis.comsec.gov
• The mandate is wide open: any U.S. listed equity qualifies, including preferred shares, ADRs and REITs, at any market cap.sec.gov
• Growth at a reasonable price is the stated discipline, and management lays out its reasoning in plain language in the annual shareholder report.sec.gov
• At 0.66% with no waiver propping it up, the fee sits near the typical active U.S. equity ETF. The sticker price is the real price.

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

• RVER Concentration cuts both ways. Non-diversified status lets a handful of names dominate the portfolio, so one stumble shows up quickly in the price.sec.gov
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and order size matters more.
• You are paying 0.66% for human discretion, not a rulebook. Category leaders built on systematic models, such as DFAU at 0.12%, cost far less.

Full AVLC profile⁠

Full RVER profile⁠