TVAL vs VAMO

TVALAT. Rowe Price Value ETF

VAMOCCambria Value and Momentum ETF

In short

TVAL T. Rowe Price's value discipline in an ETF wrapper since 2023: roughly 150 hand-picked large-cap names judged undervalued on multiple financial measures, benchmarked to the Russell 1000 Value, at about half the fee of the typical active equity ETF.

VAMO Most value funds just ride out the storm. VAMO owns roughly 100 cheap US stocks, then can short stock index futures to hedge up to 100% of that book when its model reads the market as overvalued or downtrending.

Stated mandate

TVAL The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation through an actively managed portfolio primarily invested in common stocks.

VAMO The Fund seeks income and capital appreciation through investments in the U.S. equity market. It normally invests at least 80% of net assets in U.S.-listed equities deemed undervalued using valuation measures such as CAPE.

Why people hold it

• TVAL 0.33% a year, roughly half the median for active US equity ETFs. Real stock picking without the classic active price tag.troweprice.com
• Genuine conviction, not closet indexing: about 150 large-cap, value-oriented stocks chosen by fundamental research, measured against the Russell 1000 Value.troweprice.com
• Sits in the top tier of a peer group of hundreds of active US equity ETFs, one of the stronger all-round builds in a crowded aisle.

• VAMO The hedge is the product: up to 100% of the long portfolio can be offset with index futures when Cambria's valuation and trend models turn unfavorable.cambriafunds.com
• Stock picking is rules-based, not vibes. Undervalued US names screened on measures like the cyclically adjusted P/E, with no sector above 25% of the fund.sec.gov
• Live since 2015 from Meb Faber's Cambria, a rare ETF that bolts an outright short overlay onto a value screen. Income is part of the mandate; it pays quarterly.cambriafunds.com
• Risk metrics screen better than most active US equity funds in its peer group, which is what you would expect from a portfolio that can turn its market exposure off.

Worth knowing

• TVAL Cheap for an active fund, not cheap outright. Systematic peers like DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) cover US equity for less than half the cost.
• Launched in 2023, so the ETF's own record is short next to the long-running value funds it competes with.troweprice.com
• Built for long-term capital growth, not a paycheck: distributions are annual, and the fund discloses that part of a payout can be return of capital.

• VAMO 0.65% a year sits right at the median for active US equity funds, but core factor rivals like DFAU (0.12%) and AVLC (0.15%) charge a fraction of that.
• Shorting carries its own bill: borrowing and short dividend costs fall outside the management fee, and a hedge that is on during a rally works against the longs.sec.govcambriafunds.com
• A small fund that trades thinly, so spreads matter more here than with a mega-cap index fund.

Full TVAL profile⁠

Full VAMO profile⁠