BUSA vs DFLV

BUSACBrandes U.S. Value ETF

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

In short

BUSA Brandes has run Benjamin Graham-style value money since 1974. BUSA is that half-century discipline in an ETF wrapper: about 60 US large caps, actively picked, measured against the Russell 1000 Value.

DFLV Dimensional's value playbook in an ETF wrapper: large-cap value that also screens for profitability, spread across roughly 300 names, run by research rather than an index. Active by design, index-fund cheap in practice.

Stated mandate

BUSA The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio invested primarily in U.S. company equity securities. It generally targets companies with market capitalizations above $5 billion.

DFLV The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation. Its investment approach combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading, emphasizing long-term expected-return drivers and broad diversification.

Why people hold it

• BUSA Brandes was founded in 1974 by a student of Benjamin Graham and has run value portfolios ever since. BUSA, launched in 2023, is that house discipline in an ETF.brandes.combrandes.com 2
• About 60 US names, chosen against the Russell 1000 Value. The mandate generally targets companies above $5 billion in market cap, so this is large-cap territory.
• The portfolio is the strongest part of the package: a focused, genuinely active book rather than an index clone with an active fee stapled on. Distributions run quarterly.

• DFLV Costs 0.21% a year, well under half the 0.55% median for US value funds in its peer group. Active management without the active price tag.
• Cheap alone doesn't get you in. The portfolio screens on value and profitability together, a filter aimed at cut-rate stocks that actually earn money.
• No index to shadow. Dimensional can trade on its own schedule and spreads the money across about 300 large-cap names instead of a handful of bets.
• Sits in the top tier of the US value funds we grade, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

Worth knowing

• BUSA At 0.60% it sits above the typical fee in its value cohort, and systematic rivals like AVLV (0.15%) and WTV (0.12%) charge a fraction of that. Stock picking costs.
• Thinly traded next to the giants of US value, so spreads can run wider and order size matters more than it would in a household-name fund.
• Roughly 60 holdings means individual names carry real weight, and a value book can look nothing like the broad market for long stretches, in either direction.

• DFLV Not the cheapest seat in the room: AVLV and SEIV run 0.15%, WTV 0.12%. You're paying a bit more for Dimensional's process.
• Being benchmark-free cuts both ways. With no index to measure against, there is no tracking-error scoreboard, and outcomes ride on the manager's judgment.
• Launched in December 2022, so the ETF's own record is short, and a value tilt behaves differently from the broad market. It pays quarterly.

Full BUSA profile⁠

Full DFLV profile⁠