BAFE vs DFAU: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

Brown Advisory Flexible Equity ETF

BAFEBNasdaq

Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

DFAUANYSE Arca

Overlap

27.1%by weight

Expense ratio

DFAU −0.42pt a year

BAFE0.54%DFAU0.12%

Avg volume · 30D

DFAU 11.0×the volume

BAFE49.6KDFAU547K

BAFE vs DFAU Performance

Nov 7, 2025 – Nov 9, 2026

+14.4%BAFE+14.5%DFAU

Expense ratio: BAFE 0.54%; DFAU 0.12%, better
Fund size: BAFE $1.72B; DFAU $12.6B
1Y total return: BAFE +14.4%; DFAU +14.5%, better
Yield (12M): BAFE 0.27%; DFAU 0.91%, better
Holdings: BAFE 44; DFAU 2163
Avg volume (30D): BAFE 49.6K sh; DFAU 547K sh, better
NAV per share: BAFE $29.54; DFAU $50.91
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for BAFE, DFAU, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	BAFE	DFAU
Cost30% weight	B63	A97Higher
Mission25% weight	A75	A84Higher
Risk15% weight	B55	B63Higher
Tradability15% weight	A79	A87Higher
Holdings10% weight	B56	A84Higher
Durability5% weight	A72	A91Higher

Rank among US Active Equity funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. BAFE and DFAU are both graded against the same 121 US Active Equity funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Active Equity⁠

Category · 121 funds

See all 121 ›

DFAU ranks 2nd and BAFE 37th of 121 funds in the US Active Equity Category.

Rank 1AAVLCAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETFScore 87
Rank 2ADFAUDimensional US Core Equity Market ETFScore 86
Rank 3ADFACDimensional US Core Equity 2 ETFScore 85
Rank 37BALRGAllspring LT Large Core ETFScore 64
Rank 37BBAFEBrown Advisory Flexible Equity ETFScore 64
Rank 37BRUNNRunning Oak Efficient Growth ETFScore 64

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

BAFEBBrown Advisory Flexible Equity ETF

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

In short

BAFE Brown Advisory's first ETF packages a decades-old bargain-hunting philosophy: buy good businesses when the market misprices them, whether screens call them value or growth. Roughly 40 names, 0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027.

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

Stated mandate

BAFE The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

Why people hold it

BAFE The flexible part is literal: it hunts bargains across large, mid and small caps and ignores the value/growth label, so a cheap good business qualifies either way.brownadvisory.com brownadvisory.com 2
0.54% net of a waiver through January 31, 2027 (0.57% gross) lands below the US active equity median, which is lean for a hands-on stock picker.
Roughly 40 holdings, so each name actually moves the fund. That is the point of hiring a stock picker instead of buying the whole market.
It did not start from scratch: Brown Advisory seeded its November 2024 debut by converting taxable managed accounts, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund.seic.com

DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

Worth knowing

BAFE Systematic rivals cost a fraction: DFAU runs 0.12%, AVLC 0.15%. Here the money buys human judgment, not a cheaper wrapper.
Shares change hands lightly for a fund this size, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on headline ETFs.
The philosophy predates the fund by decades, but the ETF itself opened in November 2024, so its own live record is short and payouts land once or twice a year.sec.gov

DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

Full BAFE profile⁠

Full DFAU profile⁠

BAFE vs DFAU Holdings

How BAFE and DFAU differ

Overlap by weight

27.1%

Shared holdings make up 80.4% of BAFE and 35.5% of DFAU.

Level by level

Holdings35 in both27.1%
Countryby domicile84.4%
Sector11 Sectors85.2%
Asset classStocks100%

Sector

Sector weights in BAFE and DFAU, widest gap first
Sector	Gap	BAFE	DFAU
Financials	BAFE +7.8 points	21.4%	13.6%
Communication	BAFE +5.8 points	13.6%	7.8%
Technology	DFAU +4.3 points	30.4%	34.7%
Materials	DFAU +2.3 points	0.0%	2.3%
Utilities	DFAU +2.2 points	0.0%	2.2%
Consumer Staples	DFAU +1.9 points	3.1%	5.0%
Energy	DFAU +1.6 points	2.9%	4.5%
Industrials	DFAU +1.6 points	7.7%	9.3%
Health Care	BAFE +1.2 points	11.5%	10.3%
Consumer Discretionary	DFAU +0.8 points	9.4%	10.2%
Real Estate	DFAU +0.1 points	0.0%	0.1%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in BAFE and DFAU, widest gap first
Country	Gap	BAFE	DFAU
United States	DFAU +15.0 points	84.3%	99.3%
Taiwan	BAFE +6.5 points	6.5%	0.0%
Canada	BAFE +2.9 points	2.9%	0.0%
Germany	BAFE +2.3 points	2.3%	0.0%
Finland	BAFE +1.8 points	1.8%	0.0%
Sweden	BAFE +1.8 points	1.8%	0.0%
Other countries (9)	DFAU +0.2 points	0.5%	0.7%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

BAFE43.2%
DFAU33.3%

Securities held

BAFE42
DFAU2,161

Asset class

BAFE: Stocks
DFAU: Stocks

Holdings

Only in BAFE7
In both35
Only in DFAU2,126

Only in BAFE

7 securities, 17.6% of BAFE by weight

Taiwan Semiconductor-Sp Adr6.34%
Suncor Energy Inc2.82%
Sap Se-Sponsored Adr2.22%
Elevance Health Inc2.16%
Amer Sports Inc1.79%
Spotify Technology SA1.73%
Nomad Foods Ltd0.51%

Only in DFAU

2,126 securities, 64.3% of DFAU by weight

Broadcom Inc1.81%
Eli Lilly and Company1.49%
Tesla Inc1.26%
Micron Technology Inc.1.25%
JPMorgan Chase & Co1.23%
Exxonmobil Holdings Corp1.01%
Advanced Micro Devices0.84%
Johnson & Johnson0.82%
Walmart Inc.0.74%
AbbVie Inc.0.63%
Procter & Gamble Co/The0.56%
Merck & Company Inc0.56%
Chevron Corp.0.54%
Costco Wholesale Corp.0.53%
Home Depot Inc0.50%
Coca Cola Co.0.49%
Cisco Systems Inc.0.49%
Amgen Inc0.37%
Philip Morris Intl0.37%
International Business Ma0.35%
Wells Fargo & Co.0.35%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.0.34%
Palantir Technologies Inc0.34%
Oracle Corp.0.33%
Texas Instruments Inc.0.33%
Verizon Communications0.33%
New Linde PLC0.32%
Applied Materials Inc.0.32%
Caterpillar Inc.0.32%
Gilead Sciences Inc0.31%
Rtx Corp0.31%
Intel Corp0.31%
Lam Research Corp0.29%
Morgan Stanley0.29%
Thermo Fisher Scientific.0.28%
Qualcomm Inc.0.27%
Pepsico Inc.0.27%
Conocophillips0.27%
American Express Co.0.27%
Netflix.com Inc.0.26%
Union Pac Corp.0.25%
Walt Disney Co/The0.24%
Citigroup Inc.0.24%
Salesforce Inc0.23%
Amphenol Corp Class A0.23%
Mcdonald's Corp.0.23%
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.0.22%
Nextera Energy Inc0.22%
Deere & Co.0.22%
AT&T Inc.0.21%

Weight gaps

All 35 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in BAFE and DFAU, widest gap first
Holding	Gap	BAFE	DFAU
Apple IncAAPL	DFAU +5.30 points	1.97%	7.27%
Visa Inc-Class A SharesV	BAFE +3.91 points	4.94%	1.03%
Mastercard Inc - AMA	BAFE +3.68 points	4.42%	0.74%
NVIDIA CorpNVDA	DFAU +3.10 points	3.10%	6.20%
Kkr & Co IncKKR	BAFE +2.98 points	3.05%	0.07%
United Rentals IncURI	BAFE +2.67 points	2.80%	0.13%
Danaher CorpDHR	BAFE +2.38 points	2.55%	0.17%
Watsco IncWSO	BAFE +2.34 points	2.35%	0.01%
UnitedHealth Group IncUNH	BAFE +2.18 points	2.58%	0.40%
Meta Platforms IncMETA	BAFE +2.06 points	3.88%	1.82%
Edwards Lifesciences CorpEW	BAFE +1.98 points	2.07%	0.09%
Booking Holdings IncBKNG	BAFE +1.90 points	2.04%	0.14%
Progressive CorpPGR	BAFE +1.84 points	2.02%	0.18%
Boston Scientific CorpBSX	BAFE +1.65 points	1.68%	0.03%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc-Cl BBRK.B	BAFE +1.59 points	2.86%	1.27%
Analog Devices IncADI	BAFE +1.58 points	1.79%	0.21%
Align Technology IncALGN	BAFE +1.53 points	1.55%	0.02%
S&P Global IncSPGI	BAFE +1.45 points	1.62%	0.17%
Us Foods Holding CorpUSFD	BAFE +1.40 points	1.45%	0.05%
Tyler Technologies IncTYL	BAFE +1.41 points	1.42%	0.01%
Capital One Financial CorpCOF	BAFE +1.40 points	1.55%	0.15%
Mondelez International Inc-AMDLZ	BAFE +1.40 points	1.56%	0.16%
Kla CorpKLAC	BAFE +1.32 points	1.57%	0.25%
Alphabet Inc-Cl CGOOG	BAFE +1.15 points	3.00%	1.85%
Amazon.com IncAMZN	BAFE +1.11 points	4.60%	3.49%
Ge AerospaceGE	BAFE +1.11 points	1.52%	0.41%
Autodesk IncADSK	BAFE +1.07 points	1.17%	0.10%
Tjx Companies IncTJX	BAFE +0.99 points	1.19%	0.20%
Ferguson Enterprises IncFERG	BAFE +0.93 points	1.02%	0.09%
Alphabet Inc-Cl AGOOGL	BAFE +0.89 points	3.13%	2.24%
Marvell Technology IncMRVL	BAFE +0.89 points	0.97%	0.08%
Microsoft CorpMSFT	BAFE +0.86 points	6.72%	5.86%
Schwab (Charles) CorpSCHW	BAFE +0.56 points	0.74%	0.18%
Bank of America CorpBAC	BAFE +0.53 points	0.93%	0.40%
Old Dominion Freight LineODFL	BAFE +0.49 points	0.55%	0.06%

All 45 BAFE holdings⁠All 2,381 DFAU holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

BAFE vs DFAU Cost

Overpaying BAFE vs DFAU

$8,200

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

BAFE 0.54%
$10,720
DFAU 0.12%
$2,520

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

BAFE 0.54%
DFAU 0.12%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	BAFE	DFAU	Overpaying
10	$971	$220	$751
20	$3,724	$859	$2,865
30	$10,720	$2,520	$8,200

Expense ratio

0.54%BAFE
0.12%DFAU, cheaper

DFAU0.12%BAFE0.54%

0.00%2.89%

Middle half of US Active Equity funds
Median 0.68%

DFAU 4th cheapest of 121 funds

BAFE 46th cheapest of 121 funds

BAFE vs DFAU Dividends

Last 12 months to Nov 9, 2026

Yield (12M): BAFE 0.27%; DFAU 0.91%, better
Payout (12M): BAFE $0.08; DFAU $0.47
Last payment: BAFE $0.08; DFAU $0.12
Ex-dividend: BAFE Dec 30, 2025; DFAU Sep 22, 2026
Paid on: BAFE Jan 7, 2026; DFAU Sep 24, 2026
Frequency: BAFE Irregular; DFAU Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2020 to 2026, same scale for both

BAFEIrregular · 2 paymentsAll BAFE payments⁠

DFAUQuarterly · 24 paymentsAll DFAU payments⁠

BAFE vs DFAU Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: BAFE 13.2%since Dec 2024DFAU 12.4%
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: BAFE 0.33since Dec 2024DFAU 1.38
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: BAFE −18.4%since Nov 2024DFAU −23.6%
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: BAFE 0.95DFAU 1.01; Market = 1

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