DFAU vs PSTR: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

DFAUANYSE Arca

Peakshares Sector Rotation ETF

PSTRDNasdaq

Overlap

19.8%by weight

Expense ratio

DFAU −0.94pt a year

DFAU0.12%PSTR1.06%

Avg volume · 30D

DFAU 120.7×the volume

DFAU555KPSTR4.6K

DFAU vs PSTR Performance

Oct 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

+13.2%DFAU+14.4%PSTR

Expense ratio: DFAU 0.12%, better; PSTR 1.06%
Fund size: DFAU $12.9B; PSTR $67M
1Y total return: DFAU +13.2%; PSTR +14.4%, better
Yield (12M): DFAU 0.90%; PSTR 4.93%, better
Holdings: DFAU 2165; PSTR 108
Avg volume (30D): DFAU 555K sh, better; PSTR 4.6K sh
NAV per share: DFAU $52.28; PSTR $31.16
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for DFAU, PSTR, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	DFAU	PSTR
Cost30% weight	A97Higher	F12
Mission25% weight	A83	Not scored
Risk15% weight	B65	A91Higher
Tradability15% weight	A87Higher	D30
Holdings10% weight	A84Higher	C47
Durability5% weight	A91Higher	C47

Rank among US Active Equity funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. DFAU and PSTR are both graded against the same 121 US Active Equity funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Active Equity⁠

Category · 121 funds

See all 121 ›

DFAU ranks 2nd and PSTR 86th of 121 funds in the US Active Equity Category.

Rank 1AAVLCAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETFScore 87
Rank 2ADFAUDimensional US Core Equity Market ETFScore 86
Rank 3ADFACDimensional US Core Equity 2 ETFScore 85
Rank 86DCBSEClough Select Equity ETFScore 38
Rank 86DPSTRPeakshares Sector Rotation ETFScore 38
Rank 88DFCUSPinnacle Focused Opportunities ETFScore 36

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

PSTRDPeakshares Sector Rotation 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.

PSTR A macro-cycle sector rotator: a model ranks US industry sectors by where the economy sits, then shifts the portfolio as that ranking changes. Growth plus income is the mandate; the price is 1.06% net of a waiver through June 30, 2027.

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.

PSTR Its mandate combines capital growth with income generation.

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.

PSTR The mechanism is plain: a macroeconomic and asset-cycle model ranks US industry sectors, and the fund makes periodic shifts as that ranking moves.sec.gov
Growth and income sit side by side in the mandate, and distributions come quarterly.
The adviser is waiving part of the fee, taking 1.54% gross down to 1.06% net through June 30, 2027.
Since the 2024 launch, its volatility and drawdown profile has been among the steadier in the active US equity crowd, on one year of data.

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.

PSTR You pay up for the rotation: 1.06% net (1.54% gross if the waiver lapses after June 30, 2027) is above the category norm, while iShares' DYNF rotates factors for 0.26%.
Thinly traded, so the gap between bid and ask can be a real cost and bigger orders can move the price.
Actively managed with no declared index to measure against, and the live record only starts in 2024.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full PSTR profile⁠

DFAU vs PSTR Holdings

How DFAU and PSTR differ

Overlap by weight

19.8%

Shared holdings make up 40.7% of DFAU and 30.8% of PSTR.

Level by level

Holdings63 in both19.8%
Sector11 Sectors91.0%
Countryby domicile96.5%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

Sector weights in DFAU and PSTR, widest gap first
Sector	More in DFAUMore in PSTR	DFAU	PSTR
Technology	DFAU +2.9 points	36.6%	33.7%
Communication	PSTR +2.8 points	8.0%	10.8%
Health Care	PSTR +2.7 points	9.7%	12.4%
Real Estate	PSTR +1.7 points	0.1%	1.8%
Financials	DFAU +1.6 points	12.9%	11.3%
Industrials	DFAU +1.4 points	8.9%	7.5%
Energy	DFAU +1.3 points	4.9%	3.6%
Materials	DFAU +1.2 points	2.7%	1.5%
Consumer Staples	PSTR +1.0 points	4.7%	5.7%
Utilities	PSTR +0.8 points	2.1%	2.9%
Consumer Discretionary	DFAU +0.6 points	9.4%	8.8%

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in DFAU and PSTR, widest gap first
Country	More in DFAUMore in PSTR	DFAU	PSTR
United States	DFAU +3.4 points	99.3%	95.9%
China	PSTR +1.7 points	0.1%	1.8%
Denmark	PSTR +0.7 points	0.0%	0.7%
Other countries (22)	PSTR +1.0 points	0.6%	1.6%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

DFAU33.4%
PSTR57.2%

Securities held

DFAU2,164
PSTR107

Asset class

DFAU: Equity
PSTR: Equity

Holdings

Only in DFAU2,101
In both63
Only in PSTR44

Only in DFAU

2,101 securities, 59.1% of DFAU by weight

Alphabet Inc - Class A2.14%
Eli Lilly and Company1.45%
Tesla Inc1.35%
JPMorgan Chase & Co1.21%
Berkshire Hathaway Cl-B1.15%
Visa Inc0.96%
Johnson & Johnson0.78%
Mastercard Inc - A0.69%
Walmart Inc.0.68%
AbbVie Inc.0.61%
Cisco Systems Inc.0.54%
Procter & Gamble Co/The0.52%
Costco Wholesale Corp.0.48%
Intel Corp0.48%
Home Depot Inc0.46%
Applied Materials Inc.0.39%
General Electric Company0.38%
Philip Morris Intl0.37%
Amgen Inc0.36%
Lam Research Corp0.36%
Texas Instruments Inc.0.36%
Caterpillar Inc.0.35%
Wells Fargo & Co.0.34%
Rtx Corp0.31%
New Linde PLC0.30%
Gilead Sciences Inc0.30%
Morgan Stanley0.29%
Kla Corp0.29%
Conocophillips0.28%
Thermo Fisher Scientific.0.27%
Sandisk Corp/De0.27%
American Express Co.0.26%
Union Pac Corp.0.25%
Pepsico Inc.0.25%
Amphenol Corp Class A0.25%
Analog Devices Inc.0.24%
Western Digital0.24%
Walt Disney Co/The0.22%
Seagate Technology Hold0.21%
Arista Networks Inc0.21%
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.0.21%
Tjx Companies Inc.0.20%
Deere & Co.0.20%
Palo Alto Networks Inc0.20%
Ge Vernova Llc0.20%
Nextera Energy Inc0.20%
Travelers Companies Inc.0.19%
Eog Resources Inc.0.19%
Phillips 660.19%
BlackRock Funding Inc/De0.18%

Only in PSTR

44 securities, 71.2% of PSTR by weight

State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class9.94%
Vanguard Information Technology ETF8.36%
State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class8.17%
State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class7.53%
State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF5.27%
State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF4.95%
State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class4.10%
State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF3.32%
State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class2.75%
State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class2.18%
State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class1.86%
State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF USD Class1.83%
WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund USD Class1.51%
iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF USD Class1.25%
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.0.84%
Novo Nordisk A/S0.76%
On Holding A.G.0.66%
Bbh Sweep Vehicle0.59%
Us Dollar Broker0.58%
SPDR Gold Shares USD Class0.53%
iShares China Large-Cap ETF USD Class0.53%
Global X Defense Tech ETF USD Class0.52%
iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF USD Class0.35%
SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF0.32%
Shopify, Inc.0.24%
Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF USD Class0.23%
Baidu, Inc.0.23%
Roundhill Memory ETF0.22%
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation0.20%
iShares Silver Trust0.20%
Select STOXX Europe Aerospace & Defense ETF USD Class0.19%
SK hynix, Inc.0.18%
JD.com, Inc.0.13%
SPDR S&P Biotech ETF USD Class0.10%
Firefly Aerospace, Inc.0.08%
Oklo, Inc.0.08%
AeroVironment, Inc.0.08%
IREN Ltd.0.07%
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.0.07%
Nokia OYJ0.06%
Quantinuum, Inc.0.05%
Cerebras Systems, Inc.0.05%
Rigetti Computing, Inc.0.03%
D-Wave Quantum, Inc.0.03%

Weight gaps

All 63 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in DFAU and PSTR, widest gap first
Holding	More in DFAUMore in PSTR	DFAU	PSTR
Apple Inc.AAPL	DFAU +6.32 points	7.10%	0.78%
NVIDIA CorpNVDA	DFAU +5.00 points	6.79%	1.79%
Microsoft CorpMSFT	DFAU +2.82 points	5.62%	2.80%
Broadcom IncAVGO	DFAU +1.80 points	2.04%	0.24%
Amazon.com Inc.AMZN	DFAU +1.75 points	3.14%	1.39%
Tenet Healthcare Corp.THC	PSTR +1.07 points	0.05%	1.12%
Exxonmobil Holdings CorpXOM	DFAU +0.76 points	1.07%	0.31%
Pfizer Inc.PFE	PSTR +0.74 points	0.19%	0.93%
Advanced Micro DevicesAMD	DFAU +0.71 points	1.02%	0.31%
Micron Technology Inc.MU	DFAU +0.62 points	1.62%	1.00%
Alphabet IncGOOG	DFAU +0.57 points	1.76%	1.19%
Salesforce IncCRM	PSTR +0.49 points	0.24%	0.73%
Boeing Co/TheBA	PSTR +0.49 points	0.13%	0.62%
Adobe IncADBE	PSTR +0.45 points	0.11%	0.56%
Oracle Corp.ORCL	PSTR +0.44 points	0.38%	0.82%
Lululemon Athletica IncLULU	PSTR +0.44 points	<0.01%	0.43%
Gen Digital IncGEN	PSTR +0.40 points	0.04%	0.44%
Citigroup Inc.C	PSTR +0.38 points	0.24%	0.62%
Slb LtdSLB	PSTR +0.37 points	0.15%	0.52%
Merck & Company IncMRK	PSTR +0.34 points	0.53%	0.87%
Occidental Petroleum CorpOXY	PSTR +0.29 points	0.14%	0.43%
Docusign IncDOCU	PSTR +0.29 points	0.02%	0.31%
Domino's Pizza IncDPZ	PSTR +0.29 points	0.01%	0.30%
Lockheed Martin Corp.LMT	PSTR +0.28 points	0.20%	0.48%
Kraft Heinz Co/TheKHC	PSTR +0.28 points	0.04%	0.32%
Ups Inc. Class BUPS	PSTR +0.28 points	0.13%	0.41%
Northrop Grumman Corp.NOC	PSTR +0.28 points	0.14%	0.42%
Meta Platforms IncMETA	PSTR +0.27 points	1.78%	2.05%
Delta Air Lines Inc.DAL	PSTR +0.27 points	0.11%	0.38%
General MotorsGM	PSTR +0.25 points	0.17%	0.42%
Workday Inc - AWDAY	PSTR +0.23 points	0.04%	0.27%
Uber Technologies IncUBER	PSTR +0.21 points	0.13%	0.34%
Duolingo IncDUOL	PSTR +0.20 points	<0.01%	0.20%
Coca Cola Co.KO	DFAU +0.19 points	0.46%	0.27%
AT&T Inc.T	PSTR +0.18 points	0.19%	0.37%
Abbott LaboratoriesABT	PSTR +0.17 points	0.18%	0.35%
UnitedHealth Group Inc.UNH	PSTR +0.15 points	0.40%	0.55%
Nike Inc. Class BNKE	PSTR +0.13 points	0.03%	0.16%
T-Mobile Us IncTMUS	PSTR +0.12 points	0.11%	0.23%
Mcdonald's Corp.MCD	PSTR +0.12 points	0.21%	0.33%
Coreweave IncCRWV	PSTR +0.12 points	0.04%	0.16%
Super Micro Computer IncSMCI	PSTR +0.11 points	0.04%	0.15%
Constellation Energy CorpCEG	PSTR +0.11 points	0.09%	0.20%
Target Corp.TGT	PSTR +0.10 points	0.15%	0.25%
U.s. BancorpUSB	PSTR +0.11 points	0.12%	0.23%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.GS	DFAU +0.08 points	0.35%	0.27%
Bank of America CorpBAC	DFAU +0.07 points	0.39%	0.32%
Qualcomm Inc.QCOM	PSTR +0.08 points	0.29%	0.37%
Chevron Corp.CVX	DFAU +0.07 points	0.56%	0.49%
Globalfoundries IncGFS	PSTR +0.07 points	0.02%	0.09%
Chipotle Mexican GrillCMG	PSTR +0.07 points	0.05%	0.12%
Verizon CommunicationsVZ	DFAU +0.06 points	0.30%	0.24%
Synopsys IncSNPS	PSTR +0.06 points	0.15%	0.21%
Netflix.com Inc.NFLX	DFAU +0.05 points	0.24%	0.19%
Kratos Defense & SecurityKTOS	PSTR +0.05 points	<0.01%	0.06%
International Business MaIBM	PSTR +0.04 points	0.36%	0.40%
Ionq IncIONQ	PSTR +0.05 points	<0.01%	0.04%
Palantir Technologies IncPLTR	DFAU +0.04 points	0.40%	0.36%
Lumentum Holdings IncLITE	PSTR +0.04 points	0.09%	0.13%
Carnival Corp LtdCCL	PSTR +0.04 points	0.09%	0.13%
Enphase Energy IncENPH	PSTR +0.04 points	<0.01%	0.04%
Royal Caribbean CruisesRCL	PSTR +0.02 points	0.16%	0.18%
Vistra Energy CorpVST	PSTR +0.02 points	0.08%	0.10%

All 2,381 DFAU holdings⁠All PSTR holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

DFAU vs PSTR Cost

Overpaying PSTR vs DFAU

$17,135

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

DFAU 0.12%
$2,520
PSTR 1.06%
$19,655

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

DFAU 0.12%
PSTR 1.06%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	DFAU	PSTR	Overpaying
10	$220	$1,864	$1,644
20	$859	$6,987	$6,128
30	$2,520	$19,655	$17,135

Expense ratio

0.12%DFAU, cheaper
1.06%PSTR

DFAU0.12%PSTR1.06%

0.00%2.89%

Middle half of US Active Equity funds
Median 0.68%

DFAU 4th cheapest of 121 funds

PSTR 107th cheapest of 121 funds

DFAU vs PSTR Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): DFAU 0.90%; PSTR 4.93%, better
Payout (12M): DFAU $0.47; PSTR $1.54
Last payment: DFAU $0.12; PSTR $0.40
Ex-dividend: DFAU Sep 22, 2026; PSTR Sep 23, 2026
Paid on: DFAU Sep 24, 2026; PSTR Sep 30, 2026
Frequency: DFAU Quarterly; PSTR Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2020 to 2026, same scale for both

DFAUQuarterly · 24 paymentsAll DFAU payments⁠

PSTRQuarterly · 10 paymentsAll PSTR payments⁠

DFAU vs PSTR Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: DFAU 12.4%PSTR 8.3%since May 2024
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: DFAU 1.38PSTR 1.17since May 2024
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: DFAU −23.6%PSTR −14.7%since Apr 2024
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: DFAU 1.01PSTR 0.72; Market = 1

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