Fund Evaluator:

Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl Overview

Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl (AVUVX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Value fund. Avantis Investors launched the fund in 2019.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests primarily in a diverse group of U.S. small cap companies across market sectors and industry groups. The fund manager seeks to achieve higher expected returns by selecting securities of companies with higher profitability and value characteristics, as well as smaller market capitalizations relative to others within the fund's small cap investment universe.

About Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl (AVUVX)

There are 5 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.64 years: Daniel Ong (2019), Mitchell Firestein (2019), Eduardo Repetto (2019), Ted Randall (2019), Matthew Dubin (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 Value TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has 736 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 8.4% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has 2.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.9%. There is 2.2% 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). Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has 0.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $417 million average for the Small Value 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.

AVUVX 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® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Small Value category. Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has an expense ratio of 0.25%, which is 79% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. 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® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has a portfolio turnover rate of 20%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 128% for the Small Value category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl returned 0.6%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Small Value category had an average return of -0.4%. 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 funds in that category.

Avantis® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl has a trailing yield of 1.23%, which is above the 0.77% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually.

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® U.S. Small Cap Value Instl Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 23.6%, 3.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 38.3% over the past year (grade of B), 16.4% over the past three years (grade of A) and 13.3% per year over the past five years (grade of A).

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