DFAU vs USFE

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

USFECFirst Eagle US Equity 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.

USFE First Eagle built its name buying resilient businesses only at a discount to what they are worth. USFE puts that margin-of-safety discipline on US stocks, priced below most active rivals.

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.

USFE 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.

• USFE Costs 0.45% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds in its peer group. Cheap freight for a stockpicker.
• Runs First Eagle's signature playbook: resilient companies with strong balance sheets and prudent management, bought only at a "margin of safety" to estimated intrinsic value.firsteagle.com
• A fully active, transparent 1940 Act fund whose stated goal is long-term growth of capital, extending an ETF lineup the firm started in late 2024.firsteagle.com

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.

• USFE Launched in 2026, still small and thinly traded. Little live history to judge, and spreads can run wider than on a big index fund.
• The 0.45% is net of a contractual expense cap; the stated management fee is 0.79%. Check the current prospectus for how long the waiver runs.sec.govsec.gov 2
• Broad rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) cost a third as much. Here you pay for stockpicking and a value tilt that moves differently from the market.

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full USFE profile⁠