Cambria Fund Profile – Cambria Global Value ETF (GVAL)

August 7, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 2025, the Cambria Global Value ETF (GVAL) returned roughly 55% on a net asset value basis, leading all U.S. diversified active ETFs for the year. That number is not the point of the episode, but it serves as a vivid reminder that markets rotate, leadership changes, and the investments many people have written off can come back to life very quickly. The episode is a profile of GVAL, but more than that, it is a sustained argument about why most investors are dangerously concentrated in U.S. large-cap growth stocks and what they can do about it.

The Risk of What Has Worked

The central problem the episode identifies is not that U.S. stocks are bad investments, but that the last decade has been a dramatic departure from historical norms. The ten largest stocks in the S&P 500 underperformed an equal-weighted index of the remaining 490 stocks by 2.4% per year from 1957 to 2023. Over the last decade, however, those largest ten stocks outperformed by a massive 4.9% per year on average. The episode notes that this statistic would likely be even more dramatic if updated for the last two years.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:04) **Opening & Context: The Case for Global Diversification** - Meb Faber introduces the challenge facing investors after a decade of US large-cap dominance, framing global diversification as an overlooked but necessary strategy.
2 (02:05) **GVAL's 2025 Performance & What It Signals** - Meb highlights GVAL's 55% return in 2025, leading all US diversified active ETFs, but cautions against mistaking a single year for a guarantee.
3 (03:14) **The Risk of US Mega-Cap Concentration** - Meb presents evidence that the last decade's US mega-cap outperformance is a historical anomaly, not a law of nature.
4 (04:19) **The Global Value Thesis: Go Where Valuations Are Low** - Meb explains the fundamental investment case: the global stock market is far bigger than the US, and valuations are not uniform across countries.
5 (05:15) **How the GVAL Portfolio Is Built** - Meb details the fund's two-step methodology: identifying the cheapest countries, then selecting the most undervalued stocks within them.
6 (05:53) **Offensive and Defensive Components of the Strategy** - Meb frames GVAL's approach as both a survival strategy and an aggressive play, quoting Peter Bernstein.
7 (06:22) **How GVAL Differs from a Standard Global Index** - Meb contrasts GVAL's composition with the cap-weighted MSCI ACWI index, showing a radically different country and sector allocation.

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Show Notes

In the latest podcast episode, I discuss the Cambria Global Value ETF (GVAL).

I share my perspective on the gap between U.S. and international valuations, why I believe concentrated, U.S.-heavy portfolios may carry underappreciated risks, and walk through how GVAL's process screens developed and emerging markets using long-term valuation metrics.

Learn More:

Cambria Global Value ETF (GVAL): https://cambriafunds.com/gval

TO DETERMINE IF THE FUND IS AN APPROPRIATE INVESTMENT FOR YOU, CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE FUND'S INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, RISK FACTORS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES BEFORE INVESTING. THIS AND OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN THE FUND'S PROSPECTUS WHICH MAY BE OBTAINED BY CALLING 855-383-4636 (ETF INFO) OR VISITING OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CAMBRIAFUNDS.COM. READ THE PROSPECTUS CAREFULLY BEFORE INVESTING OR SENDING MONEY.

The Cambria ETFs are distributed by ALPS Distributors Inc., 1290 Broadway, Suite 1000, Denver, CO 80203, which is not affiliated with Cambria Investment Management, LP, the Investment Adviser for the Fund.

Investing involves risk, including potential loss of capital.

GVAL: There is no guarantee that a Fund will achieve its investment goal. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. High yielding stocks are often speculative, high-risk investments. The underlying holdings of the Funds may be leveraged, which will expose the holding to higher volatility and may accelerate the impact of any losses. These companies can be paying out more than they can support and may reduce their dividends or stop paying dividends at any time, which could have a material adverse effect on the stock price of these companies and the Fund’s performance. International investing may involve risk of capital loss from unfavorable fluctuations in currency values, from differences in generally accepted accounting principles, or from economic or political instability in other nations. Emerging markets involve heightened risks related to the same actors as well as increased volatility and lower trading volume. Investments in smaller companies typically exhibit higher volatility. Narrowly focused funds typically exhibit higher volatility.

GVAL is actively managed.

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