The Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF (CALF) made its debut on 06/16/2017, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Small Cap Value category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Pacer Etfs, CALF has amassed assets over $4.32 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Small Cap Value. Before fees and expenses, CALF seeks to match the performance of the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Index.
The Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Index uses an objective, rules-based methodology to provide exposure to small-capitalization U.S. companies with high free cash flow yields.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.59%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.04%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Industrials sector - about 21.9% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology round out the top three.
When you look at individual holdings, Cf Industries Holdings Inc (CF) accounts for about 2.31% of the fund's total assets, followed by Flex Ltd (FLEX) and Emcor Group Inc (EME).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 20.38% of CALF's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -4.85% so far this year and is down about -0.79% in the last one year (as of 07/11/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $32.00 and $48.76
The ETF has a beta of 1.09 and standard deviation of 23.22% for the trailing three-year period. With about 203 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Small Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN) tracks Russell 2000 Value Index and the Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF (VBR) tracks CRSP U.S. Small Cap Value Index. iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF has $11.56 billion in assets, Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF has $30.66 billion. IWN has an expense ratio of 0.24% and VBR changes 0.07%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Small Cap Value
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF (CALF): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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