DCOR vs PSC

DCORAU.S. Core Equity 1 Portfolio ETF Class Shares

PSCBPrincipal U.S. Small-Cap Multi-Factor 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.

PSC Most multi-factor ETFs stack large caps. PSC aims the same momentum, quality and value screens at the small-cap end of the market, spreading across roughly 500 names and measuring itself against the Russell 2000.

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.

PSC The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

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.

• PSC Roughly 500 small caps, ranked on momentum, quality and value together rather than one lone tilt, so no single stock steers the fund.
• Actively run on Principal's own quantitative model, with long-term growth of capital as the stated objective and the Russell 2000 as the yardstick.
• Its multi-factor cohort is crowded with large-cap value and dividend funds (VONV, VYM, FNDX). PSC is one of the few carrying the approach into small caps.
• A billion-dollar-plus fund with moderate daily turnover and standing in the upper half of its peer group. It pays distributions quarterly.

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.

• PSC 0.38% a year runs above the typical multi-factor ETF, and well above the large-cap index trackers at the top of the cohort. That's the toll for an active quant sleeve.
• Small-cap equity swings harder and drops deeper than the large-cap names that dominate this peer group. Volatility is the roughest part of PSC's profile.
• The stock-picking model is proprietary, so you cannot reverse-engineer the portfolio from a published rulebook, and results can drift from the Russell 2000.

Full DCOR profile⁠

Full PSC profile⁠