CAFG vs VYM

CAFGCPacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

CAFG Pacer's Cash Cows brand pointed down-market: roughly 100 US small caps screened for profitability, growth and momentum. A narrow, still-young sleeve of the multifactor shelf rather than another broad-market clone.

VYM The no-frills dividend workhorse. VYM buys the higher-yielding end of the US market, roughly 600 names, for four basis points: no quality screen, no dividend-growth-streak test, just yield, at scale since 2006.

Stated mandate

CAFG The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders Index.

VYM The Fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of common stocks from companies characterized by high dividend yields.

Why people hold it

• CAFG Does what the tin says. It tracks the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders Index closely, and the portfolio reflects the advertised profitability, growth and momentum screens.paceretfs.com
• About 100 small-cap names, not a thousand. Three screens stacked into one ticker, so it acts as a distinct sleeve rather than a repackaging of the index you probably already hold.
• The mandate is legible: US equity, one named index, screens spelled out in Pacer's own fund documents. Distributions are paid quarterly.paceretfs.com

• VYM Four basis points a year, against a peer-group median near 0.32%. Cheaper than cohort neighbors VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%).
• Running since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so ordinary orders tend to fill at tight spreads.
• Simple mandate: track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index of US common stocks screened on yield. No manager discretion, no options overlay, plain 1940-Act fund.vanguard.com
• Pays quarterly, and among 100-plus value and multifactor rivals it stands as one of the strongest overall packages in the group.

Worth knowing

• CAFG At 0.59% a year it prices like a specialist product. Most multifactor peers cost less, and broad core funds such as VONV (0.06%) or IUSG (0.04%) charge a sliver of it.
• Small asset base and thin trading, so spreads can run wider than on household-name funds. How you place the order matters more here than with a mega-fund.
• Launched in 2023, so the live record is short. Across its multifactor peer group it lands in the lower half, mostly on cost and trading friction rather than on how it follows its index.

• VYM The screen is yield, not payout growth or dividend quality, so a company can qualify simply because its share price fell.
• This is a value slice by design, tilted to established payers, so it behaves differently from a total US market fund.
• Roughly 600 holdings, but weight leans toward the largest payers, so the top of the roster does more of the work than the count suggests.

Full CAFG profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠