DFLV vs MDLV

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

MDLVCMorgan Dempsey Large 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.

MDLV An income-first value book in ETF form: a few dozen hand-picked dividend payers, mostly $25B-plus companies. Where much of US large value runs on rules, this one runs on one team's judgment.

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.

MDLV The Fund seeks high current income and long-term capital appreciation.

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.

• MDLV The objective names high current income first, long-term growth second. Built from dividend payers the sub-adviser judges attractively valued, and it pays quarterly.alphaarchitect.com
• Genuinely active and genuinely concentrated: generally 30 to 75 stocks, so individual picks carry real weight instead of being diluted across hundreds of names.alphaarchitect.com
• Clear size discipline: at least 80% of net assets in companies above $25 billion, weighted average market cap typically $50 billion or larger, with room down to $3 billion.alphaarchitect.com

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.

• MDLV At 0.58% the fee sits near the category median, but cheaper tickets exist in the group: WTV at 0.12%, AVLV at 0.15%, DFLV at 0.21%.
• Small fund, light trading. Spreads can be wider than on category heavyweights, which makes execution more of a factor.
• Concentration cuts both ways. With a few dozen names and an income tilt, results track one team's stock calls rather than a broad value index.alphaarchitect.com

Full DFLV profile⁠

Full MDLV profile⁠