About a quarter of the way into 2026, Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) is already having a monumental year. The global investment firm just made history launching the first actively managed ETF share class last week.
2025 will go down as another year of record-breaking achievements for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Among the past year's highlights was a record number of mutual funds converting to ETFs, as noted by Ben Johnson, Morningstar Head of Client Solutions, via a LinkedIn post.
The Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF (NYSEARCA:DFAC) has delivered a 15% gain over the past year, essentially matching the S&P 500's return.
Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF offers broad, diversified US equity exposure with disciplined valuation screens and a tilt toward smaller companies. DFAC trades at a 15.6% P/E discount to the Russell 3000, but lags on growth and profitability, reflecting its conservative sector allocations. Performance is mid-range: DFAC underperforms the Russell 3000 and several peers, with higher volatility and steeper drawdowns in downturns.
The growth of active ETFs has propelled a wave of mutual fund-to-ETF conversions. Nearly 80% of all new product launches in both the third quarter and for the full year have been actively managed.
Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF is an actively managed fund with a tilt to value and profitability. DFAC is cheaper than the Russell 3000 index regarding valuation ratios, and growth metrics are a bit better too. The Fund's performance has closely followed the benchmark, and compared to other factor-based ETFs, it has lagged behind some competitors.