DFLV vs PZLV

DFLVADimensional US Large Cap Value ETF

PZLVCPzena U.S. 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.

PZLV Pzena has run classic value money for institutions for years; PZLV puts that discipline in an ETF. Bottom-up research on beaten-down U.S. large caps, with the Russell 1000 Value as a yardstick rather than a blueprint.

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.

PZLV The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation. It primarily invests in U.S. large-cap value stocks selected through fundamental, bottom-up research and a classic value approach.

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.

• PZLV Genuinely active: holdings come from fundamental, bottom-up research on U.S. large-cap value names, with the Russell 1000 Value as the benchmark, not the blueprint.
• A value specialist, not a generalist bolting on a value sleeve. Research-driven deep value across U.S. and international mandates is the firm's core business.preqin.com
• Plain plumbing: a U.S. stock portfolio in a standard ETF wrapper. No leverage, no derivatives overlay, no structural quirks flagged.

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.

• PZLV At 0.60% a year it runs above the typical fund in its value peer group and multiples of index-built rivals like AVLV (0.15%) and DFLV (0.21%). Human research costs money.
• Launched in 2026, so the live record is short, and lightly traded shares can mean wider gaps between bid and ask. Watch the spread when you trade.
• The stated goal is long-term capital appreciation, not income. This is a total-return vehicle rather than a dividend stream.

Full DFLV profile⁠

Full PZLV profile⁠