DCOR vs PALC

DCORAU.S. Core Equity 1 Portfolio ETF Class Shares

PALCCPacer Lunt Large Cap Multi-Factor Alternator ETF

In short

DCOR Index-fund breadth with an active steering wheel: roughly 2,300 US stocks weighted toward smaller, cheaper, more profitable companies, for 0.14% a year. Dimensional's long-running core equity playbook, in an ETF since 2023.

PALC Most factor funds pick one lane and stay there. PALC rotates instead: a rules-based index shifts among value, momentum, quality and low-volatility corners of the S&P 500 rather than blending all four at once.

Stated mandate

DCOR The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. equities. Its approach combines portfolio design, research, management, and trading while emphasizing long-term expected-return drivers.

PALC The fund seeks capital appreciation by using a rules-based process that rotates among factor-based strategies within S&P 500 companies.

Why people hold it

• DCOR 0.14% a year, well under half the typical fee among US multifactor peers.
• Roughly 2,300 holdings makes this a whole-market core position, not a factor slice, with the smaller-cap, value and profitability tilts built into the weights.
• What the prospectus advertises is what the portfolio holds: broad US equity, tilted to cheaper and more profitable names. One of the tightest mandate fits in its peer group.

• PALC One ticker, four factors, on a schedule. The Lunt Capital U.S. Large Cap Multi-Factor Rotation Index decides when to sit in value, momentum, quality or low volatility. No manager hunches involved.paceretfs.com
• The hunting ground is the S&P 500, so you get familiar US large caps (roughly 180 of them) rather than obscure corners of the market.paceretfs.com
• Live since 2020, with a quarterly distribution schedule, so the rotation rules have a real track record behind them instead of a backtest.

Worth knowing

• DCOR Actively managed with no index to replicate, so the holdings rest on Dimensional's judgment and turnover can run higher than an index fund's.sec.gov
• The 0.14% is net of a contractual fee waiver; the gross fee in the prospectus is higher, and the waiver runs on a renewable term.sec.gov
• Moderately traded rather than a volume monster, so spreads can be wider than at the biggest names in the category.

• PALC You pay for the machinery: 0.60% a year, against a 0.32% median for multi-factor peers. Static rivals like VONV (0.06%) and IUSG (0.04%) run a fraction of that.
• Rotation means the fund's personality changes. A defensive low-volatility tilt one stretch, a racier one the next, so results can wander well away from a plain S&P 500 fund.
• It trades lightly next to the giants in its category. Wider bid-ask spreads are a real cost at the moment you buy or sell, especially in size.

Full DCOR profile⁠

Full PALC profile⁠