DEEP vs IWD

DEEPDAcquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF

IWDAiShares Russell 1000 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.

IWD The original Russell 1000 Value tracker, live since 2000 and still one of the most traded ways to own the value half of US large caps. Roughly 900 stocks, followed closely, at a price that reflects the plumbing.

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.

IWD The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. large- and mid-cap stocks that may be undervalued relative to comparable companies.

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

• IWD Follows the Russell 1000 Value Index closely, one of the tightest index-following records among US value funds.
• About 900 large- and mid-cap names, so no single stock or sector drives the result.
• Trading since 2000 and actively traded, it is among the easier value ETFs to move in and out of, in size.

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

• IWD At 0.18% a year, it costs more than several broad value rivals (VTV 0.03%, SCHV 0.04%, IUSV 0.04%). The extra buys the Russell index and the trading depth.
• Holding roughly 900 names out of a 1,000-stock parent index, the value tilt is wide and mild, not a concentrated deep-value bet.ishares.com
• Distributions land quarterly, and the amount rides on what the underlying companies pay.

Full DEEP profile⁠

Full IWD profile⁠