DFAT vs IUSV

DFATCDimensional US Targeted Value ETF

IUSVAiShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

In short

DFAT A 1998-vintage tax-managed value strategy that became an ETF in 2021. Dimensional buys roughly 1,500 cheap-looking US small and mid caps with healthier profits, and runs the whole thing with one eye on your tax bill.

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

DFAT The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on its returns.

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

• DFAT The mandate is unusual for a value fund: alongside long-term capital appreciation, the stated objective names minimizing federal income taxes on returns.dimensional.com
• Roughly 1,500 small and mid caps, picked on low price relative to book value plus higher profitability, then weighted by size. Breadth does the work, not concentrated bets.dimensional.com
• The strategy predates the wrapper. It ran as a Dimensional tax-managed mutual fund from 1998 and converted in the industry's largest mutual-fund-to-ETF switch in 2021.dimensional.comsec.gov

• 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

• DFAT At 0.28%, it costs more than the typical US value ETF and several times index trackers like VTV (0.03%) or VTWV (0.06%). Active screening is what the extra buys.
• There's no index to score it against. Dimensional runs this actively, so assessing it means assessing the process, not tracking error.dimensional.com
• Small and mid caps sit at the center here, so it can behave quite differently from large-cap value peers like VTV over any given stretch.dimensional.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 DFAT profile⁠

Full IUSV profile⁠