DFAU vs LCAP

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

LCAPBPrincipal Capital Appreciation Select 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.

LCAP A concentrated active large-cap fund from Principal that runs about 50 US stocks for long-term capital growth, and charges well under half what the typical active US equity ETF does.

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.

LCAP The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

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.

• LCAP 0.29% expense ratio, versus a 0.65% median for active US equity ETFs. Cheap enough to sit near index-style factor funds like DYNF while still running a real stock-picking mandate.
• About 50 holdings, so each pick carries weight. This is a high-conviction book, not a closet index dressed up as active management.
• Plain mandate, plainly stated: long-term growth of capital from US equities, in a standard 1940 Act ETF wrapper. No derivatives overlay, no leverage, no options income machinery.
• Sits in the top quartile of a 234-fund active US equity group on our review, with cost doing much of the heavy lifting.

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.

• LCAP Launched in 2025, so there is no long record to judge the manager's stock picking through a full market cycle. Short history means thinner evidence, both ways.
• Thinly traded and modest in size. Use limit orders and expect wider spreads than you would see on the big Dimensional and Fidelity active funds in this category.
• Roughly 50 names means concentration risk cuts both ways: a handful of positions can drive results in either direction, and it will wander from the broad market.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full LCAP profile⁠