As the ETF universe continues to grow with new launches, advisors and investors shouldn’t lose sight of established, consistently performing strategies. The actively managed American Century Focused Dynamic Growth ETF (FDG ) and the American Century Focused Large Cap Value ETF (FLV ) recently crossed five years in trading at the end of March.
Active Meets High Conviction Growth in FDG
FDG provides exposure to large-cap growth companies and refers to the Russell 1000 Growth Index as its reference benchmark. Since inception on March 31, 2020, FDG generated total returns of 130.5% as of April 23, 2025. The fund uses a high conviction approach by investing in 30–45 large-cap companies. The fund managers seek companies at the early end of their growth cycle, or those companies capable of rapid growth.
The strategy is predicated on the view that earnings, revenue, and cash flow growth are the genesis for long-term stock price momentum. Notably, FDG’s portfolio managers believe that stocks selected will offer long-term capital growth over many market cycles.
The PMs use a bottom-up approach when selecting stocks for the portfolio. Factors measured include a demonstration of accelerated growth, either current or expected. This growth may be due to changing market trends or expectations. It also may be strong growth compared to peers or based on market history. The fund carries an expense ratio of 0.45%.
A High Conviction Approach to Value Investing in Large-Caps
Meanwhile, FLV focuses on long-term capital growth and income with a high-conviction strategy. The strategy does so through exposure to large-cap, high-quality companies using the Russell 1000 Value Index as its reference benchmark. FLV generated total returns of 93.46% from inception (March 31, 2020) to April 23, 2025, according to Y-charts data.
When selecting stocks, the portfolio managers seek undervalued companies. They consider a number of factors when screening for stocks either currently out of favor or with unestablished value. These factors include cash flows, earnings, and other tangible and intangible factors the PMs believe aren’t reflected in the current price.
The high conviction portfolio generally holds 30–50 stocks and offers diversification potential within large-caps. Top sectors by weight included health care at 22%, financials at 22%, and consumer staples at 15% as of March 31, 2025. FLV carries an expense ratio of 0.42%.
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