DFLV vs GVLU

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

GVLUCGotham 1000 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.

GVLU Plenty of value funds just sort stocks by a ratio. GVLU runs Gotham's own valuation on hundreds of mid- and large-cap US names and leans hardest into the widest discounts, at a price below the typical active value fund.

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.

GVLU The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It invests in 400–600 mid- to large-capitalization U.S.-listed-company equities and weights holdings toward companies trading at the largest discount to Gotham’s value assessment, subject to risk and diversification constraints.

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.

• GVLU Charges 0.50% a year, a shade under the median fee for active US value funds.
• Holds several hundred mid- and large-cap US stocks under risk and diversification limits, tilting weight toward the widest gaps between price and Gotham's own value estimate.
• Sits in the upper half of a crowded active value field, and the portfolio construction is the strongest part of the package.
• Live since 2022 as a fully active fund, so it answers to a valuation process rather than an index calendar.

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.

• GVLU Index-built value peers undercut it on fee: AVLV at 0.15%, WTV at 0.12%. The extra cost buys Gotham's valuation work rather than a rules-based screen.
• Thinly traded and small by ETF standards, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the giant index value funds.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not monthly, and with no benchmark index the portfolio's shape depends entirely on Gotham's model.

Full DFLV profile⁠

Full GVLU profile⁠