Dimensional International Value ETF

DFIV

Market cap $19.8B

The DFA Dimensional International Value ETF is rated a Buy, supported by strong historical returns and robust risk-adjusted performance versus peers. DFIV's diversified portfolio emphasizes financials and energy, with low tech exposure, and maintains a low expense ratio of 0.27%. The fund consistently outperformed its category and benchmark across 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods, with top-quartile risk-adjusted returns.

Value investors may be facing a conviction crisis. Despite leading in performance so far in 2026, value ETFs have struggled to consistently gather assets, with some funds picking up significant net new money while others are bleeding just as much.

Vanguard turned up the competitive heat in international investing with today's launch of the Vanguard Developed Markets ex-US Value Index ETF (VDV) and the Vanguard Developed Markets ex-US Growth Index ETF (VDG).

DFA Dimensional World ex US Core Equity 2 ETF offers broad international exposure with a value tilt. DFAX has outperformed the ex-U.S. benchmark IXUS by 1.7% annualized since 2021, with similar volatility. The fund's portfolio has low company-specific risk and is diversified across sectors and countries, with 67.4% in developed markets.

Market-cap weighting has a structural flaw that most investors overlook: it automatically overweights whatever has already gotten expensive.

Dimensional International Value ETF offers systematic, active value exposure to ex-US developed markets, balancing valuation discounts with profitability screens. DFIV consistently outperforms passive international value ETFs, driven by active selection, smaller large-cap tilts, and avoidance of value traps. Holding periods must be multi-year to realize value; DFIV delivers stabilization against valuation risk, not volatility or global macro shocks.

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.

International value stocks spent years in the shadows of U.S. growth. Then came 2025.

International value stocks have underperformed US counterparts for over a decade.

The Dimensional International Value ETF invests in undervalued stocks of developed countries. Over the past year, the actively managed fund has outperformed passively managed funds.