DFAU vs ESUM

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

ESUMBEventide US Market 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.

ESUM Eventide runs its values screen across the whole US market, not just the blue chips: an active portfolio measured against the Bloomberg U.S. 3000, at 0.39% when the typical active US stock fund charges far more.

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.

ESUM The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a portfolio of U.S. equity securities selected under the adviser’s values-based screening process.

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.

• ESUM Costs 0.39% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds. Cheap for a stockpicker, let alone one running a custom screen.
• The portfolio sticks closely to the values-based mandate in its prospectus, and spreads risk widely rather than betting the fund on a few names.
• Benchmarked to the Bloomberg U.S. 3000, so small and mid caps sit inside the opportunity set, not just megacap America.
• Sits in the upper tier of our active US equity group, an unusual place for a fund this young. It also pays out quarterly.

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.

• ESUM Launched in December 2024. The record is short, so any read on how it handles rough markets rests on limited history.
• Systematic core rivals undercut it on fee: DFAU at 0.12%, AVLC at 0.15%, DFAC at 0.17%. The values screen is what the extra buys.
• A smaller fund that trades lightly, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the category's giants and execution matters more at the point of trade.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full ESUM profile⁠