ETF Evaluator: Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF () Follow This ETF

Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF Overview

Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF (AVSF) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Short-Term Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF). Avantis Investors launched the ETF in 2020.

The investment seeks to maximize total return. The fund invests primarily in investment grade quality debt obligations from a diverse group of U.S. and non-U.S. issuers. Under normal market conditions, it will invest at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in fixed income securities. It seeks to maintain a weighted average maturity of three years or less. The fund will invest primarily in investment grade securities as rated by an independent rating agency or determined by the advisor to be of comparable credit quality if a rating is unavailable.

About Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF (AVSF)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.80 years: Daniel Ong (2020), Mitchell Handa (2020), Hozef Arif (2020) and Eduardo Repetto (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Govt/Credit 1-5 Yr TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has 502 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 10.1% 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.

Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond ETF group. Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has 14.6% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 99.1% (84.5% domestic bond, 14.6% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has 0.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $649 million in total assets, which is below the $3 billion average for the Short-Term Bond 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.

AVSF 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 Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Short-Term Bond category. Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has an expense ratio of 0.15%, which is 47% 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. Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 57%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 77% for the Short-Term Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF returned -0.1%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Short-Term Bond category had an average return of -0.1%. 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.

Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF has a trailing yield of 4.37%, which is below the 4.54% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

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.

Avantis Short-Term Fixed Income ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 0.6%, 0.3 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 3.2% over the past year (grade of D), 4.8% over the past three years (grade of F) and 1.8% per year over the past five years (grade of F).

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