GCOW vs IGRO

GCOWCPacer Global Cash Cows Dividend ETF

IGROAiShares International Dividend Growth ETF

In short

GCOW Cash first, dividends second. GCOW ranks global companies by free cash flow yield, then takes the big payers from that pool, so the income comes from businesses the screen says can actually fund it.

IGRO Dividend growth, not dividend yield, taken overseas. IGRO tracks a Morningstar index of non-US companies with a habit of raising their payouts, spread across roughly 500 names, for a fee that undercuts most of the international dividend shelf.

Stated mandate

GCOW The fund seeks income and capital appreciation by screening global companies for high free-cash-flow yield and dividend yield, using a rules-based quality and value methodology.

IGRO The fund seeks to track an index of international stocks with a history of growing dividends, providing dividend-focused international equity exposure for income and long-term growth.

Why people hold it

• GCOW The screen leads with free cash flow, not headline yield: global names are filtered on cash generation and value/quality rules before dividends decide the final cut.paceretfs.com
• Truly global, not just overseas. The mandate covers developed markets worldwide in a concentrated basket of roughly 110 stocks, rules-based rather than manager-picked.paceretfs.com
• Running since 2016 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades with reasonable regularity, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
• Income arrives on a quarterly schedule from the fund's own distribution calendar.paceretfs.com

• IGRO Costs 0.15% a year, well under the typical fee for an international dividend screen.
• Does what the label says: it follows the Morningstar Global ex-US Dividend Growth Index closely, one of the tightest index-to-portfolio matches in its peer group.
• Roughly 500 non-US payers, so no single dividend carries the fund. Cash goes out quarterly.

Worth knowing

• GCOW At 0.60% a year, it costs more than the typical dividend-screen fund and far more than plain index rivals like VYMI (0.07%) and SCHY (0.08%). The screen has to earn that gap.
• Against its dividend-screen peer group, it sits in the lower tier once cost is weighed alongside how the portfolio is built.
• No target payout is declared. Distributions rise and fall with what the underlying companies pay and with what the screen holds after each rebalance.paceretfs.com

• IGRO It trades thin next to heavyweights like VYMI, so limit orders and calmer mid-session trading matter more here.
• The screen targets payout growth, not the fattest yields, so income tends to run lighter than yield-first international funds.
• Cheaper neighbors exist: VIGI at 0.07% and SCHY at 0.08%, though each tracks a different index with a different holdings list.

Full GCOW profile⁠

Full IGRO profile⁠