DFAU vs EBI

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

EBIALongview Advantage ETF

In short

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

EBI A boutique take on the academic value-and-profitability playbook, with Dimensional alumni on the desk: an unconstrained all-cap US stock fund leaning toward cheaper, more profitable companies for 0.24% net of a waiver through December 31, 2026 (0.34% gross).

Stated mandate

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

EBI The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed investment approach.

Why people hold it

• DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
• Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
• Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

• EBI Leans toward cheaper, more profitable companies: value measured by book/price, profitability by operating profits to book. Academic factors, run with active discretion, not an index.longviewresearchpartners.com
• 0.24% net of a waiver through December 31, 2026, and 0.34% gross. Below the category median and under DYNF's 0.26%, though above the Dimensional and Avantis cores.
• Owns well over a thousand US stocks, so no single name carries the fund.stockanalysis.com
• Cheap for its category, broadly diversified and steadily run: one of the stronger implementations in the active US equity crowd.

Worth knowing

• DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
• No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
• Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

• EBI Launched in February 2025, so the track record is short and spans no full market cycle.
• The 0.24% price tag rests on a waiver through December 31, 2026; the gross fee is 0.34% if it lapses.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, and distributions land once or twice a year rather than monthly.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full EBI profile⁠