DEEP vs IUSV

DEEPDAcquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF

IUSVAiShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

In short

DEEP Most small-cap funds buy the whole haystack. DEEP runs the Acquirer's Multiple, the buyout-firm yardstick of enterprise value to operating earnings, across the smallest 75% of US stocks and keeps about 100 names. Deep value, micro-cap deep, at a boutique price.

IUSV A value fund with a wider net: it tracks the S&P 900 Value Index, which screens S&P 500 and MidCap 400 stocks on book value, earnings and sales versus price. Roughly 700 names, 0.04% a year, running since 2000.

Stated mandate

DEEP Seeks to track the performance of the Acquirers Deep Value Index before fees and expenses. The Fund uses passive indexing and focuses on small- and micro-cap stocks selected for undervaluation, fundamental strength, liquidity, and financial resilience.

IUSV The fund seeks to track the S&P 900 Value Index, which represents large- and mid-capitalization U.S. value equities. Value characteristics are identified using book value, earnings, and sales relative to price.

Why people hold it

• DEEP Ranks on the Acquirer's Multiple (enterprise value to operating earnings), the same yardstick activists and buyout firms use to price targets, then holds about 100 of the cheapest fundamentally strong names.bloomberg.commarketscreener.com
• Fishes in the smallest 75% of US listed stocks, reaching micro-caps that Russell 2000 trackers like IWM and VTWO largely leave on the shelf.aaii.com
• Rules-based and passive: the index does the picking and the fund replicates its components, and it has stayed close to that stated mandate.aaii.comusnews.com

• IUSV Costs 0.04% a year, a fraction of the typical US value ETF, and level with the cheapest of its large peers like SCHV.
• The index reaches past the S&P 500 into the S&P MidCap 400, so mid-cap value names come along. Large-cap-only rivals such as SCHV stop short of them.spindices.com
• A 2000 vintage and now a multi-billion-dollar iShares Core holding: it trades actively, tracks its index closely, and pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• DEEP The 0.80% fee sits well above the 0.25% typical for its small-cap cohort, and plain trackers like VB and SCHA charge 0.03%. Boutique pricing for a niche screen.
• A small, thinly traded fund holding micro-caps. Spreads can run wider than on the cohort's heavily traded giants, so how you place the order matters more here.
• Today's small and micro deep-value mandate dates to a 2020 index change. The ticker launched in 2014 running a different, large-cap-focused strategy, so the full record is not apples to apples.prnewswire.com

• IUSV S&P's style system splits the parent index by formula, and stocks with both value and growth traits can sit in each. This is the cheap half of the market, not a deep-value sleeve.spglobal.comspglobal.com 2
• The screen is pure price ratios (book value, earnings, sales), with no profitability or quality filter, so cheap-for-a-reason names are part of the deal.spglobal.com
• Holdings are float-market-cap weighted, so the biggest value names drive most of the movement.spglobal.com

Full DEEP profile⁠

Full IUSV profile⁠