CGUS vs DFAU

CGUSACapital Group Core Equity ETF

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

In short

CGUS Capital Group's low-key answer to the index fund: an actively managed US core portfolio of roughly 70 stocks chasing both appreciation and dividends, priced at 0.33% while the typical active US equity ETF charges about double.

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

CGUS The fund seeks long-term capital growth and income by investing mainly in common stocks that the adviser believes offer appreciation potential or dividends. It is actively managed and emphasizes companies viewed as attractively valued long-term opportunities.

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

• CGUS Charges 0.33% a year against a roughly 0.65% median for active US equity ETFs. Rare pricing for a stock-picking mandate rather than an index tracker.
• Real active management, not closet indexing: about 70 names selected for appreciation potential or dividends, with a stated tilt toward companies the adviser views as attractively valued.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is straightforward rather than a limit-order science project.
• Ranks among the strongest implementations in a crowded active US equity field on our review, and pays out quarterly.

• 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

• CGUS Cheap for active, not cheap outright. Systematic peers like DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) undercut it if you want core US equity at the lowest possible fee.
• A roughly 70-stock book means individual picks carry real weight, and the portfolio can look meaningfully different from the broad US market in either direction.
• Launched in 2022, so the ETF's own track record is short even though the manager behind it is not new to US equities.

• 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 CGUS profile⁠

Full DFAU profile⁠