DFAC vs FELC

DFACADimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF

FELCAFidelity Enhanced Large Cap Core ETF

In short

DFAC Dimensional's whole-market workhorse: roughly 2,600 US stocks in one ticker, run by managers who weigh federal tax consequences before they trade, at a fee closer to index funds than to active ones.

FELC Active management priced like an index fund. Fidelity's quant screens tilt a roughly 220-stock large-cap portfolio toward value, growth and quality signals, with the S&P 500 as the yardstick, for 0.18% a year.

Stated mandate

DFAC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation while considering federal income-tax implications in its investment decisions.

FELC The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• DFAC 0.17% a year for an actively run fund, well under the median fee among active US equity ETFs.
• About 2,600 US stocks under one ticker, so it holds the market broadly rather than a narrow slice of it.
• Federal income-tax implications sit inside the stated objective, not in a footnote, so they factor into what managers buy and sell.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund with a track record running back to 2007 and one of the strongest implementations in its peer group.

• FELC 0.18% a year, well under the median fee for active US equity funds. Index-fund pricing with a stock-picking overlay on top.
• The screen is three-pronged: valuation, growth and quality signals, applied across about 220 large caps and measured against the S&P 500.
• A multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund whose strategy has been on the books since 2007. Size and volume make it easy to get in and out of.
• One of the stronger implementations in its active US equity peer group: cheap, liquid, and running the mandate its prospectus describes.

Worth knowing

• DFAC Actively managed, so there's no published index to check it against. Holdings and tilts shift at the managers' discretion.
• Dimensional's own DFAU runs a US core equity mandate for 0.12%, a slightly lighter fee for a similar shelf.
• All stocks, all US: the mandate is capital appreciation from equities, so it takes the market's full swings, and cash arrives quarterly.

• FELC Benchmarked to the S&P 500 and holding about 220 of its large caps, so it lives in the same neighborhood as a plain index fund. The tilts are the entire difference.
• Models pick the stocks, not an index. That means results can land on either side of the S&P 500 in any given stretch.
• The stated goal is long-term capital appreciation, not income. Distributions arrive quarterly as a byproduct of a fully invested stock portfolio, with no hedge or buffer.

Full DFAC profile⁠

Full FELC profile⁠