Franklin U.S. Small Cap Multifactor Index ETF
$47.20−0.43 (−0.90%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.35%
- Fund size
- $45M
- 1Y return
- +9.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.54%
- Holdings
- 496
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $47.62
- 52W range
The ETF.net FLQS Grade
Score 50 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.CScore 42Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 86Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 30Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.FScore 15Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 77Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.CScore 44Category rank
Our read on FLQS
CFour screens (value, quality, momentum, low volatility) run across about 500 small U.S. companies. Franklin's LibertyQ recipe, live since 2017: small-cap breadth with a rules-based tilt instead of a plain size index.
The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity Index. It normally invests at least 80% of assets in the index's component securities.
Why people hold it
- Four factors in one ticket: value, quality, momentum and low volatility, blended by index rule rather than by a manager's mood.
- Roughly 500 names spread single-stock accidents thin, which counts for more in small caps than anywhere else on the risk spectrum.
- Sticks close to its LibertyQ benchmark, so the index rulebook is a fair description of what actually sits in the portfolio.
- Same mandate since its 2017 launch, with income paid out quarterly.
Worth knowing
- 0.35% a year sits a shade above the typical multifactor peer, and above cheaper rules-based options such as FNDX at 0.25%.
- One of the lighter-traded funds in its category, so bid-ask spreads can add cost beyond the headline fee.
- Small caps swing harder than large caps. The low-volatility screen softens that ride, it does not remove it.
FLQS Holdings
- Stocks
- 496
- 10%
- ESNT
Sectors
- Technology16.9%
- Consumer Discr.16.3%
- Health Care13.4%
- Financials13.2%
- Industrials12.6%
- Cons. Staples7.9%
- Real Estate5.7%
- Utilities5.5%
- Energy4.9%
- Materials2.0%
- Communication1.7%
Geography
- United States92.60%
- Bermuda2.87%
- Ireland1.37%
- Monaco0.64%
- United Kingdom0.53%
- Cayman Islands0.38%
- Guernsey0.29%
- France0.21%
- 1.10%
FLQS Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | FLQS |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +11.7% |
| 1 month | −4.0% |
| 3 months | +1.4% |
| 1 year | +9.1% |
| 3 years | +13.4% |
| 5 years | +6.1% |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | FLQS |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +11.7% | |
| 2025 | +5.0% | |
| 2024 | +8.3% | |
| 2023 | +21.3% | |
| 2022 | −16.9% | |
| 2021 | +26.6% | |
| 2020 | +10.5% |
FLQS in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FLQS yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FLQS Dividends
- 1.54%
- $0.73
- $0.20 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 2026 | Pays Sep 25, 2026 | $0.20 |
| Jun 26, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.14 |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Mar 27, 2026 | $0.21 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 29, 2025 | $0.19 |
| Sep 19, 2025 | Sep 26, 2025 | $0.12 |
| Jun 27, 2025 | Jul 7, 2025 | $0.10 |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Mar 28, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | Dec 30, 2024 | $0.19 |
| Sep 20, 2024 | Sep 27, 2024 | $0.16 |
| Jun 21, 2024 | Jun 28, 2024 | $0.16 |
| Mar 15, 2024 | Mar 25, 2024 | $0.04 |
| Dec 15, 2023 | Dec 26, 2023 | $0.25 |
FLQS Risk
- 17.5%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 0.51
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −28.0%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.90
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FLQS Cost
- The middle half of US Multifactor funds
- Median 0.30%
54 of the 98 US Multifactor funds charge less.