u/Formal-Zucchini-6868

One of the most common questions in factor investing communities is whether the strategy actually delivers in practice, not just in academic backtests. Since Avantis launched their first ETFs in 2019, we now have roughly six years of live data to look at. It is a short horizon by factor investing standards and should be taken with a grain of salt, but it is worth examining.

I compared three Avantis U.S.-listed funds against their closest market-cap weighted equivalents from iShares, using iShares specifically because both Avantis and BlackRock use MSCI indexes for developed and emerging markets classification, while Vanguard uses FTSE, which draws the lines differently and would make a less clean comparison.

The results since inception in 2019:

	Avantis	Index	CAGR Avantis	CAGR Index	Outperformance	Portfolio Visualizer
U.S. equities	AVUS	ITOT	16.01%	15.49%	+0.52% / yr	Comparison
International developed	AVDE	IEFA	12.15%	10.29%	+1.86% / yr	Comparison
Emerging markets	AVEM	IEMG	12.51%	10.54%	+1.97% / yr	Comparison

Across all three comparisons, the Avantis funds have outperformed their market-cap weighted counterparts since launch. The gap is smallest in the U.S., where the market has been dominated by expensive but profitable mega-cap technology stocks that a value tilt naturally underweights. The outperformance is larger in international developed and emerging markets, where the value and profitability premium appears to have been more readily captured.

A few important caveats. Six years is a short period by the standards of factor investing, and this window happened to include 2022 and parts of 2025 and 2026, which were strong years for value. A different starting or ending point could tell a different story. The academic case for factor premiums is built on decades of data across many markets, not on any single six-year window. These results are consistent with what the research predicts, but they do not confirm that the premium will continue at this pace.

For Canadian investors, AVUS, AVDE and AVEM are not directly held by CAGE, but the same Avantis team applies the same investment philosophy to CAUS, CADE and CAEM (which are components of CAGE). The U.S. track record is the best available evidence for what the Canadian-listed funds may deliver over time.

As always, past performance is not a guarantee of future results. This is not financial advice.

CIBC has updated the CAGE information page on their website with new data in the "Portfolio" section, including holdings characteristics, sector breakdown, market cap breakdown and geographic allocation. Worth bookmarking if you want to keep an eye on how the fund evolves over time.

The number that will interest some people here: the estimated dividend yield is currently 2.29%. For context, the 12-month trailing yield for XEQT is 1.53% and VEQT is 1.41%. The higher yield for CAGE is consistent with its value tilt (cheap and profitable companies tend to pay more in dividends than expensive growth stocks) so this is expected.

A reminder that yield is not a reason on its own to choose one fund over another, and that distributions are taxed differently depending on your account type. But for those holding CAGE in a taxable account or simply curious about what the factor tilt looks like in practice, this is a useful data point.

EDIT: The yield has been updated from 2.29% (as at 03/31/2026) to 2.18% (as at 04/30/2026).

The first Morningstar fund profiles for CAGE and its underlying ETFs are now available on the CIBC ETFs website (cibc.com/etfs), giving us the first real look at what Avantis's factor tilts look like in practice across each sleeve of the portfolio. The data is dated March 31, 2026, so it is not fully up to date: notably, CAGE still shows the CIBC MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF (CEMI) as its emerging markets holding rather than CAEM, because CAEM only launched on March 31, 2026 and had not yet been swapped in. That transition has likely occurred since. With that caveat in mind, here is a brief summary of what each profile shows.

CAGE — The overall portfolio has a P/E of 15.12 and a P/B of 2.22. The sector mix is led by financials, industrials, materials and energy, with a notable underweight in technology relative to a plain market-cap index.

CACE — 288 Canadian stocks with heavy exposure to materials, financials and energy. The P/E of 15.10 confirms a clear value tilt relative to the broad Canadian market (19.46).

CAUS — 1,602 U.S. stocks across all cap sizes. The top holdings include familiar mega-cap names but the broader portfolio tilts toward energy and industrials relative to a plain S&P 500 fund.

CADE — 1,748 stocks across developed international markets, making it the largest fund by number of holdings. A P/E of 13.44 and P/B of 1.61 suggest international developed markets are where Avantis is finding the most attractively valued stocks right now.

CAEM — 739 emerging markets stocks with China, Taiwan, South Korea and India as the top four country exposures.

CASV — 822 small cap stocks globally, with 60% in the U.S. and the rest spread across Japan, Canada, Australia and the U.K. A P/B of 1.20 and average market cap of $3.3 billion confirm genuine small cap value exposure. The top ten holdings account for only 5.53% of the portfolio.

As always, this is not financial advice. The data is from March 31, 2026 and current allocations will have shifted since then.

EDIT: Adding CALV (U.S. large cap value) and CAUV (U.S. small cap value) as well for those who might be interested

CALV — 177 U.S. large cap stocks with a strong value tilt. The P/E of 15.56 and P/B of 3.07 reflect a concentrated bet on cheap and profitable large U.S. companies. Top holdings include Exxon Mobil, Amazon, Merck and Apple.

CAUV — 461 U.S. small cap stocks with the most concentrated value tilt of any fund in the lineup. The P/E of 11.77 and P/B of 1.28 make this the cheapest U.S.-focused fund in the Avantis CIBC lineup. The top ten holdings account for only 9.63% of the portfolio.