AVTM vs SAMT

AVTMAAvantis Total Equity Markets ETF 1

SAMTBStrategas Macro Thematic Opportunities ETF

In short

AVTM Avantis' one-ticket world stock market: roughly 1,700 holdings, U.S. names owned directly and the overseas sleeves held through sister Avantis funds, all tilted toward cheaper, more profitable companies.

SAMT Most thematic ETFs are one-trick: one theme, forever. SAMT runs three to five macro themes at once and rotates them as the cycle turns, steered by Strategas, the macro research shop behind it. Flat 0.66%, no waiver.

Stated mandate

AVTM Seeks long-term capital appreciation through a broadly diversified total-market equity allocation, using individual securities and Avantis ETFs while emphasizing securities expected to offer higher returns or better risk characteristics than a passive market-capitalization-weighted index.

SAMT The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through active investment principally in U.S. common stocks associated with three to five macro-thematic trends. The Adviser uses technical, fundamental, qualitative, and quantitative analysis and may adjust the portfolio as trends change.

Why people hold it

• AVTM Costs 0.22% net of a fee waiver (0.23% gross), a notch under stablemate AVGE at 0.23% and below the typical fee in its category.
• Owns U.S. companies directly rather than only stacking funds, then uses Avantis ETFs for developed and emerging markets abroad. One ticket, all market caps.sec.gov
• Benchmarked to 85% Russell 3000 and 15% MSCI ACWI ex-US IMI: a deliberately U.S.-heavy world portfolio, not a global cap-weight split.avantisinvestors.com
• One of the stronger builds in a crowded field of actively managed global equity funds.

• SAMT Single-theme funds live or die by one idea. SAMT holds three to five macro themes at a time and rotates them as trends change, so no single story carries the portfolio.strategasetfs.com
• The calls come from Strategas' own macro research desk, an institutional strategy firm operating since 2006 and now part of Baird, not an outside index provider.strategasetfs.comlinkedin.com
• Roughly 50 US-listed stocks across the cap spectrum, so a theme can be played through mid and small caps, not just the usual mega-cap proxies.strategasetfs.com
• Among the easier funds in its peer group to get in and out of, which matters for a strategy that reshuffles as themes rotate.

Worth knowing

• AVTM Avantis flags that much of the starting portfolio sits on a low tax basis, so the fund may realize and distribute more capital gains than other ETFs.avantisinvestors.com
• Trades thinly next to the index giants in its category, so spreads and order size matter more here.
• Launched January 2026, so the history is short, and with no index to follow the portfolio reflects Avantis' own valuation and profitability tilts.sec.gov

• SAMT At 0.66% the fee sits near the norm for active global equity funds, but broad-index rivals like AVTM (0.22%) and AVGE (0.23%) cost far less.
• Concentration cuts both ways: with roughly 50 names in a handful of themes, a trend that stalls can weigh on the whole fund. The prospectus flags this risk by name.strategasetfs.com
• No index to check the manager against. Holdings reflect the team's conviction calls, and the live record only starts at the January 2022 launch.

Full AVTM profile⁠

Full SAMT profile⁠