Vanguard U.S. Value Factor ETF (BATS:VFVA) is built around an aggressive premise: find the cheapest U.S. stocks by screening across price-to-earnings, price-to-cash-flow, and balance sheet strength simultaneously. The fund holds 500+ individual positions and charges just 0.13% annually, making it one of the most cost-efficient ways to access deep value factor exposure. Investors buy it for the same reason anyone buys deeply discounted stocks: the potential for outsized returns when the market recognizes what it has overlooked.

The fund has delivered. Over the past year, VFVA returned roughly 17%, slightly ahead of the 15% posted by Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEARCA:VTV), the more conventional…