DFSV vs TMFS

DFSVAU.S. Small Cap Value Portfolio ETF Class Shares

TMFSFMotley Fool Small-Cap Growth 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.

TMFS The Motley Fool's stock-picking bench in an ETF wrapper: an actively managed basket of US small caps chosen for quality and growth, with no index to hide behind and a fee that reflects the human effort.

Stated mandate

DFSV The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

TMFS The actively managed ETF seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of small-capitalization companies. It uses a quality-growth approach and generally invests at least 80% of net assets in small-cap companies.

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.

• TMFS Genuinely active, not an index in disguise: managers pick US small caps on quality and growth, with at least 80% of net assets in small-cap companies per the prospectus.
• Trading since 2018, so there is a real multi-year live record from a named research house instead of a back-test.
• One legible job: US-listed equities only, small-cap quality-growth style, no overseas sleeve or mid-cap drift written into the mandate.

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.

• TMFS The 0.85% expense ratio sits well above the median for active small-cap funds, and the highest-graded rivals in the group (AVUV, AVSC) charge a fraction of that.
• Thinly traded next to the category's giants, so spreads can be wider and bigger orders can push the price around.
• The mandate is capital appreciation, not income, and against its active small-cap peer group the fund lands in the bottom quartile on our review.

Full DFSV profile⁠

Full TMFS profile⁠