ETF Evaluator: Dimensional US Small Cap ETF (DFAS) Follow This ETF

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF Overview

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF (DFAS) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend exchange-traded fund (ETF). Dimensional Fund Advisors launched the ETF in 1998.

The investment seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on returns. The fund, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to generally purchase a broad and diverse group of securities of U.S. small cap companies. As a non‑fundamental policy, normally, the fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small cap U.S. companies. The fund may purchase or sell futures contracts and options on futures contracts for U.S. equity securities and indices, to increase or decrease equity market exposure based on actual or expected cash inflows to or outflows from the Portfolio.

About Dimensional US Small Cap ETF (DFAS)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 8.67 years: Jed Fogdall (2012), Joel Schneider (2017), Joseph Hohn (2022) and Marc Leblond (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has 2059 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 2.5% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity ETF group. Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has 1.6% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 98.4% There is 1.6% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $15 billion in total assets, which is above the $4 billion average for the Small Blend category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

DFAS Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Dimensional US Small Cap ETF expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has an expense ratio of 0.26%, which is 38% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 6%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.2 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 50% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Dimensional US Small Cap ETF returned -1.6%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Small Blend category had an average return of -2.1%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF has a trailing yield of 0.98%, which is below the 1.17% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Dimensional US Small Cap ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 16.9%, 1.1 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 26.9% over the past year (grade of D), 13.2% over the past three years (grade of D) and 8.7% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 10.6% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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