JQUA vs QOWZ

JQUAAJPMorgan U.S. Quality Factor ETF

QOWZCInvesco Nasdaq Free Cash Flow Achievers ETF

In short

JQUA Quality investing without the quality price tag. JQUA screens U.S. companies for profitability and strong balance-sheet traits, and charges 0.12%, the lowest fee in the quality-factor group we track.

QOWZ Most growth funds rank stocks by how fast sales climb. QOWZ starts with cash, tracking a Nasdaq index that picks roughly 50 US companies on the free cash flow they actually generate. A quality filter wearing a growth label.

Stated mandate

JQUA JQUA is designed to provide domestic equity exposure focused on companies with strong quality and profitability characteristics, using a rules-based approach intended to enhance returns.

QOWZ The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the Nasdaq US Free Cash Flow Achievers Index. It invests at least 90% of total assets in securities comprising that Index.

Why people hold it

• JQUA 0.12% a year, against a roughly 0.29% median for quality-factor funds, and it undercuts the bigger badges QUAL and FQAL at 0.15%.
• About 300 U.S. names selected on quality and profitability: a broad core-shaped sleeve, not a concentrated wager on a dozen balance sheets.
• Live since 2017 and now a multi-billion-dollar, actively traded fund, so it has both a real track record and daily two-way flow.
• One of the stronger implementations in its peer group: it stays close to the JP Morgan US Quality Factor Index it follows while keeping costs at the bottom of the group.

• QOWZ One rule, written down: track the Nasdaq US Free Cash Flow Achievers Index and keep at least 90% of assets in its components. No manager hunches.invesco.com
• Free cash flow is a hard number, not a story. Screening on it puts a quality test in front of the usual growth metrics.
• Concentrated by design at roughly 50 names, so the cash screen shows up in the portfolio instead of being diluted across hundreds of positions.
• Invesco launched it in December 2023 and billed it as a first-to-market strategy in its smart beta lineup. Distributions come quarterly.invesco.com

Worth knowing

• JQUA A quality screen is a tilt, not a shield. Owning profitable companies means owning less of everything else, and that gap cuts both ways.
• Trades actively, though it is not the most heavily traded fund on the quality-factor shelf, which matters more for large orders than small ones.
• Distributions land quarterly and fall out of what the screen owns. Income is a byproduct here, not the mandate.

• QOWZ It charges 0.39% a year. Plain large-cap growth index funds like VUG and SCHG run 0.03% to 0.04%, so the screen carries a real cost to justify.
• One of the smaller, thinner-traded funds in the growth aisle, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads than the household-name trackers.
• Live only since late 2023, so its record is short next to the decades-old index funds sitting beside it on the shelf.

Full JQUA profile⁠

Full QOWZ profile⁠