AVSC vs SQLV

AVSCAAvantis U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF

SQLVBRoyce Quant Small-Cap Quality Value ETF

In short

AVSC Avantis's whole-field small cap fund: roughly 1,500 US small companies in one ticker, run by the manager's own rules rather than a published index, at 0.25% a year.

SQLV An active small-cap fund with an algorithm at the wheel. Royce's quant screen ranks US small caps on value, quality and momentum, then spreads the money across roughly 300 names instead of a concentrated stock-picker's short list.

Stated mandate

AVSC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and invests primarily in a diversified group of U.S. small-cap companies across market sectors and industries, with at least 80% of assets normally invested in U.S. small-cap equity securities.

SQLV The fund seeks long-term capital growth.

Why people hold it

• AVSC 0.25% a year versus a 0.52% median for active US small-cap funds. Less than half the going rate for a hands-on manager.
• Roughly 1,500 holdings spread across sectors and industries, so one small-cap blowup barely dents the fund.
• One of the strongest all-round implementations in the active US small-cap group on cost, portfolio build and ease of trading.
• Pays quarterly, trades with steady daily volume, and pulled in over a billion dollars since its 2022 launch.

• SQLV Three screens, not one. The rules-based system scores value, quality and momentum together, so a stock needs more than a low price tag to earn a slot.
• Roughly 300 holdings means no single small-cap blowup steers the whole fund, which matters in a corner of the market where individual names swing hard.
• Subadvised by Royce Investment Partners, a shop built around small caps, wrapped in a repeatable quantitative process rather than gut-feel picking. Trading since July 2017.sec.gov
• Portfolio construction is the strongest leg here, and the fund sits in the upper half of its active US small-cap peer group overall.

Worth knowing

• AVSC Undiluted small-cap equity, kept at least 80% invested in the asset class. It rides the small-cap cycle with deeper swings than a large-cap fund.
• No declared index to check it against. The manager's stock-selection rules are the product, so you are buying a process, not a published benchmark.
• Its sibling AVUV works the value slice of the same universe at the same 0.25%. Own both and you are doubling up on overlapping small-cap names.

• SQLV At 0.60% a year it costs more than the typical fund in its peer group, and well more than systematic rivals like AVUV and AVSC at 0.25%.
• One of the smaller, more thinly traded funds in the category. Light volume tends to mean wider spreads, and small asset bases get reviewed by issuers over time.
• A proprietary screen builds a portfolio that can look very different from a plain small-cap index, so stretches of divergence in either direction come with the design.

Full AVSC profile⁠

Full SQLV profile⁠