DFLV vs NITE

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

NITEFThe Nightview Fund

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.

NITE A former private partnership turned ETF: Nightview runs a non-diversified book of roughly 15 to 25 high-conviction US names and grades itself against the S&P 500 over rolling five-year stretches.

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.

NITE The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and aims to outperform the S&P 500 Total Return Index over a rolling five-year period. It is actively managed, primarily U.S.-focused, and uses long-term fundamental value investing to identify companies trading below the adviser’s estimated fair value.

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.

• NITE Concentration is the design, not an accident. The prospectus contemplates a non-diversified portfolio of roughly 15 to 25 stocks, so every pick carries real weight.sec.gov
• The mandate is unusually specific: beat the S&P 500 Total Return Index over a rolling five-year period, stated in the fund's own filings. Easy to hold to account.
• Not a launch-day idea. The adviser ran this long-only strategy as a private partnership before converting it into an ETF wrapper in 2024.nightviewcapital.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.

• NITE Costs like active management: a 1.25% expense ratio against a category median near 0.55%, while systematic value peers such as AVLV and WTV sit near 0.15%.
• Small and thinly traded, so spreads can run wider than in the giants of the category.
• Capital appreciation is the whole job here. There is no income mandate, and 15 to 25 names means bumpier rides than a broad value index.sec.gov

Full DFLV profile⁠

Full NITE profile⁠