Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF (AVUV) is an actively managed exchange-traded fund that invests primarily in U.S. small-cap value stocks selected based on fundamental criteria, including valuation measures such as price-to-book ratios, profitability metrics like profitability-to-book, and other factors aimed at capturing higher expected returns; the fund employs a systematic, rules-based process to overweight securities exhibiting favorable characteristics relative to peers, while maintaining broad diversification across approximately 780 holdings in sectors such as industrials, financials, consumer discretionary, and energy. Launched on September 24, 2019, and issued by American Century ETF Trust under the management of Avantis Investors—a division of American Century Investments headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, with additional offices in Los Angeles, New York, and internationally—AVUV trades on the NYSE Arca exchange and targets long-term capital appreciation for investors seeking exposure to the small-cap value segment of the U.S. equity market. The fund's portfolio emphasizes companies with smaller market capitalizations, lower prices relative to fundamentals, and higher profitability, distinguishing it from passive index-tracking alternatives like those based on the Russell 2000 Value Index.
In recent developments, Avantis Investors, the strategy's overseer, achieved significant growth milestones, surpassing $100 billion in assets under management as of December 2025 and recording nearly $27 billion in net new investments through the first 11 months of 2025, driven by strong inflows into its active ETF lineup including AVUV, which manages approximately $18.8 billion in assets. The firm expanded internationally through a strategic alliance with CIBC Asset Management Inc. announced in November 2025, launching eight Avantis-branded ETFs in Canada such as the Avantis CIBC U.S. Small Cap Value ETF; additionally, Avantis entered the Australian market in October 2025 with three new ETFs, including the Avantis Global Small Cap Value Active ETF (AVTS), and became an ETF issuer on the SIX Swiss Exchange. These expansions complement ongoing portfolio adjustments, such as new positions in holdings like YETI Holdings, Gentex Corporation, and NovoCure Limited, alongside robust performance with a one-year total return of 6.56% and inception-to-date annualized return of 13.72% as of late 2025.