AVLC vs SSUS

AVLCAAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF

SSUSCStrategy Shares Day Hagan Smart Sector 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.

SSUS Sector rotation with a brake pedal. Day Hagan runs models co-developed with Ned Davis Research across the S&P 500's sectors, tilting toward the strongest ones and, when its risk model turns cautious, shifting up to half the portfolio into cash and Treasuries.

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.

SSUS The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and preservation 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.

• SSUS The risk model is the whole point: on a low reward-to-risk reading, up to half of assets can move into cash, Treasuries or money funds, then back to equities when the model says major risks have subsided.sec.gov
• Sector calls, not stock calls. It holds unaffiliated ETFs covering the S&P 500 sectors and overweights or underweights each against the index, with a weak sector cut all the way to zero.sec.gov
• Live since January 2020 on the same published Day Hagan research framework, and it sits in the upper half of a crowded active US equity field.sec.gov

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

• SSUS At 0.76% with no fee waiver, it sits above the category median. Peers measured against the same S&P 500 benchmark include FELC at 0.18% and PQUS at 0.22%.
• Raising cash cuts both ways: the same mechanism that trims equity exposure can leave the fund underexposed if markets turn back up before the model does.sec.gov
• Not one of the heavily traded names in its category, and it distributes income only once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full AVLC profile⁠

Full SSUS profile⁠