DFSV vs SQLV

DFSVAU.S. Small Cap Value Portfolio ETF Class Shares

SQLVBRoyce Quant Small-Cap Quality Value 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.

SQLV An active small-cap fund with an algorithm at the wheel. Royce's quant screen ranks US small caps on value, quality and momentum, then spreads the money across roughly 300 names instead of a concentrated stock-picker's short list.

Stated mandate

DFSV The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

SQLV The fund seeks long-term capital growth.

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.

• SQLV Three screens, not one. The rules-based system scores value, quality and momentum together, so a stock needs more than a low price tag to earn a slot.
• Roughly 300 holdings means no single small-cap blowup steers the whole fund, which matters in a corner of the market where individual names swing hard.
• Subadvised by Royce Investment Partners, a shop built around small caps, wrapped in a repeatable quantitative process rather than gut-feel picking. Trading since July 2017.sec.gov
• Portfolio construction is the strongest leg here, and the fund sits in the upper half of its active US small-cap peer group overall.

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.

• SQLV At 0.60% a year it costs more than the typical fund in its peer group, and well more than systematic rivals like AVUV and AVSC at 0.25%.
• One of the smaller, more thinly traded funds in the category. Light volume tends to mean wider spreads, and small asset bases get reviewed by issuers over time.
• A proprietary screen builds a portfolio that can look very different from a plain small-cap index, so stretches of divergence in either direction come with the design.

Full DFSV profile⁠

Full SQLV profile⁠