Hi there,
Both of these ETFs are U.S. based ETFs so I am not fully up to speed on them. Had to do a little bit of research on them. Let's start with IVAL which is intended to hold a portfolio of approximately 40-50 stocks and is centered on their own value Index. So in essence, it looks to hold value stocks. Also worth noting- it is focused on international exposure and 100% of companies are held outside of the U.S. I would not feel comfortable commenting on their Top 10 as there are many companies I do not recognize.
Unfortunately, value investing has underperformed in a BIG way over the past decade. Growth has crushed valued, as has dividend investing. This is why IVAL has struggled. In fact, it has underperformed the Index since inception. Is the outlook any brighter? While some make the argument that value will eventually has its day - the bullish market activity may yet lead to continued underperformance.
QVAL is pretty much the exact same fund, but instead of international equities it focuses on U.S. stocks. Once again, it has the same level of underperformance as IVAL and I'd say the outlook is uncertain. Likewise, its top 10 is littered with lesser known U.S. Stock, and there would not be many in there that I'd buy individually. Most all of them have been impacted by the pandemic and have seen YOY declines in revenue.
Overall - value ETFs are not particularly attractive in this environment. As mentioned, they haven't been for about a decade now. Not to say value investing won't do well moving forward but I personally don't see the immediate path to said outperformance.
Mat