497K 1 d269147d497k.htm DIMENSIONAL U.S. SMALL CAP ETF Dimensional U.S. Small Cap ETF

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Dimensional U.S. Small Cap ETF

 

 

EXCHANGE (TICKER): NYSE ARCA, INC. (DFAS)

 

 

Summary Prospectus

February 28, 2022

 

Before you invest, you may want to review the Portfolio’s Prospectus, which contains more information about the Portfolio and its risks. You can find the Portfolio’s Prospectus and other information about the Portfolio, including the Statement of Additional Information (SAI) and most recent reports to shareholders, when available, online at https://us.dimensional.com/etfs. You can also get this information at no cost by calling collect to (512) 306-7400 or by sending an e-mail request to document_requests@dimensional.com. The Portfolio’s Prospectus and SAI, both dated February 28, 2022, as may be supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus.


Investment Objective

The investment objective of the Dimensional U.S. Small Cap ETF (the “US Small Cap ETF” or “Portfolio”) is to achieve long-term capital appreciation while minimizing federal income taxes on returns.

Fees and Expenses of the Portfolio

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the US Small Cap ETF. You may also incur usual and customary brokerage commissions when buying or selling shares of the Portfolio, which are not reflected in the table or Example that follows.

 

 

Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment): None

Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)*

 

Management Fee        0.25%  
Other Expenses        0.03%  
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses        0.28%  
*

The “Management Fee” and “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” have been adjusted to reflect the decrease in the management fee payable by the Portfolio from 0.30% to 0.25% effective as of February 28, 2022.

EXAMPLE

This Example is meant to help you compare the cost of investing in the US Small Cap ETF with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Portfolio for the time periods indicated. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Portfolio’s operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs whether you redeem or hold your shares would be:

 

1 Year    3 Years    5 Years    10 Years
  $ 29      $ 90      $ 157      $ 356

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

The US Small Cap ETF pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Portfolio shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual

 

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Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Portfolio’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Portfolio’s (and the predecessor fund’s, as defined below) portfolio turnover rate was 11% of the average value of its investment portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s (the “Advisor”) tax management strategies for the US Small Cap ETF are designed to maximize the after tax value of a shareholder’s investment. Generally, the Advisor buys and sells securities for the Portfolio with the goals of: (i) delaying and minimizing the realization of net capital gains (e.g., selling stocks with capital losses to offset gains, realized or anticipated); and (ii) maximizing the extent to which any realized net capital gains are long-term in nature (i.e., taxable at lower capital gains tax rates).

To achieve the US Small Cap ETF’s investment objective, the Advisor implements an integrated investment approach that combines research, portfolio design, portfolio management, and trading functions. As further described below, the Portfolio’s design emphasizes long-term drivers of expected returns identified by the Advisor’s research, while balancing risk through broad diversification across companies and sectors. The Advisor’s portfolio management and trading processes further balance those long-term drivers of expected returns with shorter-term drivers of expected returns and trading costs.

The US Small Cap ETF, using a market capitalization weighted approach, is designed to generally purchase a broad and diverse group of securities of U.S. small cap companies. A company’s market capitalization is the number of its shares outstanding times its price per share. Under a market capitalization weighted approach, companies with higher market capitalizations generally represent a larger proportion of the Portfolio than companies with relatively lower market capitalizations. The Portfolio may emphasize certain stocks, including smaller capitalization companies, lower relative price stocks, and/or higher profitability stocks as compared to their representation in the small-cap segment of the U.S. market. An equity issuer is considered to have a low relative price (i.e., a value stock) primarily because it has a low price in relation to its book value. In assessing relative price, the Advisor may consider additional factors such as price to cash flow or price to earnings ratios. An equity issuer is considered to have high profitability because it has high earnings or profits from operations in relation to its book value or assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing relative price and profitability are subject to change from time to time.

As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the US Small Cap ETF will invest at least 80% of its net assets in securities of small cap U.S. companies. For the purposes of the Portfolio, the Advisor considers small cap companies to be companies whose market capitalizations are generally in the lowest 10% of total market capitalization or companies whose market capitalizations are smaller than the 1,000th largest U.S. company, whichever results in the higher market

 

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capitalization break. Total market capitalization is based on the market capitalization of eligible U.S. operating companies listed on a securities exchange in the United States that is deemed appropriate by the Advisor. Under the Advisor’s market capitalization guidelines described above, based on market capitalization data as of December 31, 2021, the market capitalization of a small cap company would be below $10,142 million. This threshold will change due to market conditions.

The Advisor may also increase or reduce the US Small Cap ETF’s exposure to an eligible company, or exclude a company, based on shorter-term considerations, such as a company’s price momentum and investment characteristics. In assessing a company’s investment characteristics, the Advisor considers ratios such as recent changes in assets divided by total assets. The criteria the Advisor uses for assessing a company’s investment characteristics are subject to change from time to time. In addition, the Advisor seeks to reduce trading costs using a flexible trading approach that looks for opportunities to participate in the available market liquidity, while managing turnover and explicit transaction costs.

The US Small Cap ETF 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.

The US Small Cap ETF may lend its portfolio securities to generate additional income.

The US Small Cap ETF is an actively managed exchange-traded fund and does not seek to replicate the performance of a specific index and may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than such index funds.

Principal Risks

Because the value of your investment in the US Small Cap ETF will fluctuate, there is the risk that you will lose money. An investment in the Portfolio is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The following is a description of principal risks of investing in the Portfolio.

Equity Market Risk: Even a long-term investment approach cannot guarantee a profit. Economic, market, political, and issuer-specific conditions and events will cause the value of equity securities, and the Portfolio that owns them, to rise or fall. Stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and periods of falling prices.

Small Company Risk: Securities of small companies are often less liquid than those of large companies and this could make it difficult to sell a small company security at a desired time or price. As a result, small company stocks may fluctuate

 

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relatively more in price. In general, smaller capitalization companies are also more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business or economic developments and they may have more limited resources.

Profitability Investment Risk: High relative profitability stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies.

Value Investment Risk: Value stocks may perform differently from the market as a whole and an investment strategy purchasing these securities may cause the Portfolio to at times underperform equity funds that use other investment strategies. Value stocks can react differently to political, economic, and industry developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Value stocks also may underperform the market for long periods of time.

Tax-Management Strategy Risk: The tax-management strategies may alter investment decisions and affect portfolio holdings, when compared to those of non-tax managed funds. The Advisor anticipates that performance of the Portfolio may deviate from that of non-tax managed funds. Although the Advisor intends to manage the Portfolio in a manner which considers the effects of the realization of capital gains and taxable dividend income each year, the Portfolio may nonetheless distribute taxable gains and dividends to shareholders.

Market Trading Risk: Active trading markets for the Portfolio’s shares may not be developed or maintained by market makers or authorized participants. Authorized participants are not obligated to make a market in the Portfolio’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders for creation units. Trading in shares on an exchange may be halted in certain circumstances. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the listing exchange necessary to maintain the listing of the Portfolio will continue to be met.

Premium/Discount Risk: The net asset value (“NAV”) of the Portfolio and the value of your investment may fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and redemptions or the market price of the Portfolio’s holdings, the existence of extreme market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may widen bid-ask spreads and result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV. If a shareholder purchases shares at a time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain losses.

Derivatives Risk: Derivatives are instruments, such as futures contracts, and options thereon, whose value is derived from that of other assets, rates or indices. The use of derivatives for non-hedging purposes may be considered to carry more risk than other types of investments. When the Portfolio uses derivatives, the Portfolio will be directly exposed to the risks of those derivatives. Derivative instruments are subject to a number of risks including counterparty, liquidity,

 

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interest rate, market, credit and management risks, as well as the risk of improper valuation. Changes in the value of a derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index, and the Portfolio could lose more than the principal amount invested.

Securities Lending Risk: Securities lending involves the risk that the borrower may fail to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. As a result, the Portfolio may lose money and there may be a delay in recovering the loaned securities. The Portfolio could also lose money if it does not recover the securities and/or the value of the collateral falls, including the value of investments made with cash collateral. Securities lending also may have certain adverse tax consequences.

Operational Risk: Operational risks include human error, changes in personnel, system changes, faults in communication, and failures in systems, technology, or processes. Various operational events or circumstances are outside the Advisor’s control, including instances at third parties. The Portfolio and the Advisor seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address these risks.

Cyber Security Risk: The Portfolio’s and its service providers’ use of internet, technology and information systems may expose the Portfolio to potential risks linked to cyber security breaches of those technological or information systems. Cyber security breaches, amongst other things, could allow an unauthorized party to gain access to proprietary information, customer data, or fund assets, or cause the Portfolio and/or its service providers to suffer data corruption or lose operational functionality.

Performance

The bar chart and table immediately following illustrate the variability of the US Small Cap ETF’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Portfolio. The US Small Cap ETF has adopted the performance of the Tax-Managed U.S. Small Cap Portfolio (the predecessor fund) as the result of a reorganization of the predecessor fund into the US Small Cap ETF, which was consummated after the close of business on June 11, 2021 (the “Reorganization”). Prior to the Reorganization, the US Small Cap ETF had not yet commenced operations. The bar chart shows the changes in the Portfolio’s (and the predecessor fund’s) performance from year to year. The table illustrates how annualized one year, five year and ten year returns, both before and after taxes, compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. The Portfolio’s (and the predecessor fund’s) past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. The returns shown for periods ending on or prior to June 11, 2021 are those of the predecessor fund. Returns of the Portfolio will be different from the returns of the predecessor fund as they have different expenses. Performance reflects any applicable fee waivers and expense reimbursements. Performance returns would be lower without applicable fee

 

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waivers and expense reimbursements. Updated performance information for the Portfolio can be obtained by visiting http://us.dimensional.com/etfs.

The after-tax returns presented in the table for the Portfolio are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown in the table. In addition, the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold shares of the Portfolio through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

 

 

US Small Cap ETF—Total Returns

 

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January 2012-December 2021

Highest Quarter

  

Lowest Quarter

28.47% (10/20–12/20)

  

-32.32% (1/20–3/20)

 

 

Annualized Returns (%)

Periods ending December 31, 2021

 

     1 Year     5 Years     10 Years  
US Small Cap ETF                         

Return Before Taxes

     29.70     11.14     13.62

Return After Taxes on Distributions

     28.53     10.36     12.88

Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Portfolio Shares

     18.01     8.66     11.23
Russell 2000® Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
     14.82     12.02     13.23

 

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Investment Advisor/Portfolio Management

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP serves as the investment advisor for the US Small Cap ETF. The following individuals are responsible for leading the day-to-day management of the Portfolio:

 

   

Jed S. Fogdall, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Chairman of the Investment Committee, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2021 (predecessor fund 2012).

 

   

Joel P. Schneider, Deputy Head of Portfolio Management, North America, member of the Investment Committee, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2021 (predecessor fund 2017).

 

   

Marc C. Leblond, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2021 (predecessor fund 2020).

 

   

Joseph F. Hohn, Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Advisor, has been a portfolio manager of the Portfolio since 2022.

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The US Small Cap ETF issues (or redeems) shares at NAV only to certain financial institutions that have entered into agreements with the Portfolio’s distributor in large aggregated blocks known as “Creation Units.” A Creation Unit of the Portfolio consists of 30,000 shares. Creation Units are issued (or redeemed) in-kind for securities (and an amount of cash) that the Portfolio specifies each day at the NAV next determined after receipt of an order.

Individual Portfolio shares may only be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca, Inc., other national securities exchanges, electronic crossing networks and other alternative trading systems through your broker-dealer at market prices. An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Because Portfolio shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, Portfolio shares may trade at a price less than (discount) or greater than (premium) the Portfolio’s NAV. Recent information, including information on the Portfolio’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is available on the Portfolio’s website at https://us.dimensional.com/etfs.

Tax Information

The dividends and distributions you receive from the US Small Cap ETF are taxable and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some

 

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combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the plan or account.

Payments to Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the US Small Cap ETF through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Portfolio and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of the Portfolio shares and/or related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the financial intermediary to recommend the Portfolio over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One

Austin, TX 78746

(512) 306-7400

 

RRD022822-DFAS

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