What Is COWZ? Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF

COWZ is the Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF, issued by Pacer ETFs. It owns the 100 US large- and mid-cap companies with the highest free-cash-flow yield, screened from the Russell 1000. The premise is simple: rather than owning the biggest companies, own the ones generating the most cash relative to their price.

It launched in December 2016, charges 0.49%, and has grown to roughly $18 billion. The fund is a factor strategy, not a broad market index, so it behaves differently from a fund like SPY and is best understood as a deliberate tilt toward cash-rich businesses.

COWZ starts with the Russell 1000, a broad universe of large- and mid-cap US stocks. It then ranks each company by free-cash-flow yield, defined as free cash flow divided by enterprise value, and keeps the 100 with the highest yield. Financials are excluded because cash flow is measured differently for them.

The selected companies are weighted by the dollar amount of free cash flow they generate, with each position capped at about 2%, and the index rebalances quarterly. This process resets the portfolio toward whatever cash-rich, reasonably priced companies rank highest at each rebalance, giving COWZ a dynamic, value-leaning character.

Approximate weights as of mid-2026; refresh quarterly from Pacer ETFs's fund page. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

Because positions are capped near 2%, COWZ's top holdings cluster tightly. Recent names include Booking Holdings, Lowe's, HCA Healthcare, Uber, T-Mobile, Verizon, Altria, AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and General Dynamics, a mix of consumer, healthcare, communications, and industrial companies.

Sector weights shift meaningfully at each quarterly rebalance as free-cash-flow rankings change. The fund has historically tilted toward energy, healthcare, and consumer names when those sectors generate strong cash relative to price, so its composition can look quite different from one year to the next.

SPY tracks the broad S&P 500 by market cap, giving you the largest US companies regardless of how much cash they generate. COWZ instead narrows the field to 100 high-free-cash-flow-yield names and weights by cash produced. SPY is diversified market exposure; COWZ is a concentrated factor bet.

The trade-offs are clear. SPY is cheaper at roughly 0.09% and more diversified, and it captures the mega-cap growth leaders. COWZ costs 0.49%, holds fewer names, and can lag badly when expensive growth stocks lead, but it aims to outperform when cash-generative value comes back into favor. The choice depends on whether you want broad exposure or a deliberate free-cash-flow tilt.

COWZ suits investors who already hold a broad core and want to add a targeted tilt toward cash-generating US companies. It is typically a satellite position, not a standalone portfolio, because its 100-name concentration and factor design can diverge sharply from the broad market for extended stretches.

Whether COWZ belongs in your portfolio depends on your goals, risk tolerance, and belief in the free-cash-flow factor. Walnut is not an investment adviser, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell COWZ. It is a description of what the fund is and how it compares to a broad index.

COWZ trades on major brokerages including Robinhood, Fidelity, Schwab, and Public. Many support fractional shares, so you can start with a partial position. It trades throughout the day like any stock, with liquidity supported by its multi-billion-dollar asset base.

To track COWZ alongside a broader strategy, you can connect your brokerage to Walnut and hold it inside a thematic basket. Walnut leaves the trading at your own broker and acts as the tracking and intelligence layer on top.

The bottom line on COWZ: it is a rules-based bet on cash-generating US companies, the 100 highest free-cash-flow-yield names in the Russell 1000, at 0.49%. It plays a satellite, factor-tilt role rather than a broad core. Its fee is far above a plain index fund, the trade for a concentrated free-cash-flow strategy that can diverge sharply from the S&P 500.

Whether COWZ is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is COWZ a buy?

COWZ yields ~2.2% as of mid-2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see COWZ dividend: yield and schedule.