DFSV vs ESSC

DFSVAU.S. Small Cap Value Portfolio ETF Class Shares

ESSCCEventide Small Cap ETF

In short

DFSV Small-cap value, spread wide: roughly a thousand of the market's cheaper small companies, measured against the Russell 2000 Value Index. A deeper bench than most rivals carry, at a higher price than the plain index funds beside it.

ESSC Eventide takes its values-based screen down the market cap ladder: an active, long-only US small-cap portfolio measured against the Bloomberg U.S. 2000, at 0.49%. Launched in 2025, so the screen is the pitch, not the history.

Stated mandate

DFSV The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

ESSC The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by primarily investing in U.S. small-cap companies that Eventide identifies as creating value for stakeholders under its values-based screening criteria. It is actively managed using a long-only approach.

Why people hold it

• DFSV Roughly 1,000 holdings spread the small-value bet across the whole opportunity set instead of a handful of names.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so getting a position on or off is rarely the hard part.
• Portfolio construction is the strong suit here: broad, diversified small-cap value exposure, with distributions paid quarterly.
• The mandate is plainly stated: long-term capital appreciation from US stocks, no side quests.

• ESSC The screen is the point. An active, long-only manager buying US small caps it judges to be creating value for stakeholders, not an index fund with a label bolted on.
• 0.49% a year for hands-on small-cap stock picking, a shade under the middle of its actively managed small-cap peer group.
• Four signals in the mix (growth, momentum, quality, value) rather than a single style bet, with the Bloomberg U.S. 2000 Total Return Index as the yardstick.

Worth knowing

• DFSV At 0.30% a year it costs more than the typical US value ETF (median 0.18%), and VTWV runs against the same Russell 2000 Value benchmark for 0.06%.
• Small-cap value is a bumpier corner than the large-cap value funds anchoring this group (VTV, SCHV), and the ride shows it.
• Launched in 2022, so its live record is short next to the value funds it sits beside.

• ESSC Opened in late September 2025, so there is very little performance or risk history behind it yet.
• Still a small, lightly traded fund, which can mean wider gaps between bid and ask than the household names in the small-cap aisle.
• At 0.49% it runs about double systematic small-cap peers such as AVUV and AVSC at 0.25%, so the screen has to carry that gap.

Full DFSV profile⁠

Full ESSC profile⁠