Vanguard U.S. Multifactor ETF (VFMF)

The fund's advisor utilizes a systematic, data-driven quantitative framework to analyze U.S. common stocks, building an equity portfolio specifically designed to capture exposure to various investment factors. The process begins with an initial filter that eliminates the most volatile securities from the investment universe. Subsequently, stocks are selected based on an equally weighted composite score derived from three targeted factors: momentum, which identifies companies demonstrating strong recent price performance; quality, focusing on businesses with robust fundamental health; and value, selecting stocks trading at attractive prices relative to their underlying financial metrics. This approach yields a highly diversified portfolio consisting of hundreds of individual holdings, encompassing a broad range of market capitalizations—including large, mid, and small-cap companies—as well as various economic sectors and distinct industry groups, thereby minimizing stock-specific risks. The portfolio undergoes periodic rebalancing to ensure sustained alignment with its intended factor exposures. The primary investment objective is to achieve long-term capital growth. Generally, a minimum of 80% of the fund's assets will be allocated to equity securities issued by U.S. corporations. Specifically, the Value factor is determined using metrics such as book value-to-price, forward earnings-to-price, and operating cash flows-to-price (for non-financial firms). Momentum is assessed via total returns over the T-12 to T-1 month period and the T-7 to T-1 month period, in addition to the intercept from a one-year regression of stock returns against their regional benchmark. For financial companies, the Quality factor is gauged by return on equity and share issuance, while for non-financial companies, it involves return on equity, gross profitability, changes in net operating assets, and leverage. The initial volatility screen systematically removes the 20% most volatile names within each market capitalization tier and applies this equally across all sectors.