AVNV vs DFIV

AVNVCAvantis All International Markets Value ETF 9

DFIVADimensional International Value ETF

In short

AVNV One ticket for the whole non-US value trade: Avantis bundles its international large cap, small cap and emerging markets value funds into a single fund-of-funds, screened on value and profitability, for 0.34%.

DFIV A 1999-vintage Dimensional tax-managed strategy that swapped its mutual fund wrapper for an ETF in 2021. It buys cheap large-cap stocks across developed markets outside the US, with tax minimization written into the objective itself.

Stated mandate

AVNV The fund's objective is long-term capital appreciation.

DFIV The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on returns.

Why people hold it

• AVNV Covers ground most rivals skip: developed and emerging markets, large caps and small, all screened for cheap valuations plus profitability.avantisinvestors.com
• 0.34% covers the whole stack, near the category median for international value, and that's the real number, with no fee waiver propping it up.
• Benchmarked to the MSCI ACWI ex-USA IMI Value Index rather than pinned to it, so the managers weight by valuation and profitability on their own clock.avantisinvestors.com
• One trade instead of three: the adviser handles the mix across regions and company size inside the wrapper, and distributions land quarterly.americancentury.com

• DFIV Tax awareness sits in the mandate, not the marketing: the stated objective is long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on returns.sec.gov
• At 0.27% a year it undercuts the typical international value fund, so an active, judgment-driven portfolio comes at index-adjacent pricing.
• Broad by design: roughly 600 large developed ex-US names screened on low price relative to book, with room to tilt toward smaller and more profitable companies.sec.gov
• Priced below EFV, the other heavyweight in developed-markets value, and one of the strongest implementations in this peer group.

Worth knowing

• AVNV Thinly traded and among the smaller funds in its category, which tends to mean wider bid-ask spreads than headline international names.
• Value, small cap and emerging markets tilts together can swing well away from a plain international index, in either direction.
• Cheaper single-region options exist, such as VDV at 0.08%, though they stop at developed markets.

• DFIV Value only, developed only: no US stocks, no emerging markets. Stretches where it looks nothing like a broad international index can run for years.sec.gov
• Actively managed with no published index to check it against. Dimensional decides what counts as a cheap stock and when to trade it.sec.gov
• The 1999 start date belongs to the Tax-Managed DFA International Value mutual fund, which became this ETF in a 2021 reorganization.sec.gov

Full AVNV profile⁠

Full DFIV profile⁠