DFLV vs FSEV

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

FSEVBFidelity Enhanced Small Cap Value ETF

In short

DFLV Dimensional's value playbook in an ETF wrapper: large-cap value that also screens for profitability, spread across roughly 300 names, run by research rather than an index. Active by design, index-fund cheap in practice.

FSEV Fidelity's quants running active small-cap value, anchored to the Russell 2000 Value Index and priced at 0.28% a year. The market's dustiest corner, played cheap, by a fund that only opened its doors in 2026.

Stated mandate

DFLV The ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation. Its investment approach combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading, emphasizing long-term expected-return drivers and broad diversification.

FSEV The fund seeks capital appreciation and normally invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks included in the Russell 2000 Value Index, which represents the U.S. small-cap value segment.

Why people hold it

• DFLV Costs 0.21% a year, well under half the 0.55% median for US value funds in its peer group. Active management without the active price tag.
• Cheap alone doesn't get you in. The portfolio screens on value and profitability together, a filter aimed at cut-rate stocks that actually earn money.
• No index to shadow. Dimensional can trade on its own schedule and spreads the money across about 300 large-cap names instead of a handful of bets.
• Sits in the top tier of the US value funds we grade, and it is a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.

• FSEV 0.28% a year for active management, well under what the typical active US small-cap fund charges.
• At least 80% of assets sit in Russell 2000 Value names, spread across roughly 400 stocks. The active decisions happen inside the index, not off the map.
• Undercuts BSVO on fee and lands within a few basis points of AVUV, the other funds benchmarked to the same Russell 2000 Value index.
• Uses Fidelity's Enhanced quant approach, the same playbook behind sibling FESM, which stands among the strongest entries in this small-cap group.

Worth knowing

• DFLV Not the cheapest seat in the room: AVLV and SEIV run 0.15%, WTV 0.12%. You're paying a bit more for Dimensional's process.
• Being benchmark-free cuts both ways. With no index to measure against, there is no tracking-error scoreboard, and outcomes ride on the manager's judgment.
• Launched in December 2022, so the ETF's own record is short, and a value tilt behaves differently from the broad market. It pays quarterly.

• FSEV Opened in 2026: short track record, modest asset base, and lighter trading than the category's household names, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads.
• Active by design, so the model's picks can diverge from the Russell 2000 Value Index in either direction.
• Distributions arrive once or twice a year, not monthly.

Full DFLV profile⁠

Full FSEV profile⁠