COWZ vs FEX: how they differ
COWZ and FEX hold 23% of their weight in the same names, and COWZ returned +22.9% over the year. Pacer US Cash Cows 100 ETF and First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund.
COWZ costs 0.08 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.3 points; COWZ is 11.9 times larger.
| COWZ | FEX | |
|---|---|---|
| Expense ratio | 0.49% | 0.57% |
| Net assets, COWZ as of Jul 31, 2026 and FEX as of Oct 9, 2026 | $18.7bn | $1.6bn |
| Total return, 1 year | +22.9% | +17.6% |
| Holdings in common | 23% | |
| Nasdaq-100, total return, 1 year | +23.6% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 20.4% | 5.0% |
| Below its high | 5.1%, high on Sep 3, 2026 | 4.1%, high on Aug 14, 2026 |
Holdings in common uses holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.
What they hold in common
By the books each fund has filed, COWZ and FEX hold 23% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Above 50%, holding both is close to holding one of them twice. Holdings dated Jul 31, 2026 and Oct 9, 2026.
half
23% in common
On the same fields
COWZ and FEX on the fields both publish, as of Oct 9, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
COWZ in plain words
COWZ tracks an index of US Cash Cows 100. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +22.9% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.49% a year. By its holdings filed for Jul 31, 2026, 95% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 100 positions, with the top ten at 20.4%. It sat 5.1% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.
FEX in plain words
FEX tracks an index. Over the year to Oct 9, 2026 it returned +17.6% with distributions reinvested, against +17.3% for the S&P 500 and +23.6% for the Nasdaq-100. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.57% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 9, 2026, 86% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 375 positions, with the top ten at 5.0%. It sat 4.1% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 9, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, COWZ or FEX?
- In the year to Oct 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested, COWZ returned +22.9% and FEX +17.6%.
- Which is cheaper, COWZ or FEX?
- COWZ is cheaper, by 0.08 percentage points a year. On $10,000 held for a year that difference is about $8. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
ETFIQ links to the documents behind every figure; a link is not an endorsement. A comparison is not a recommendation.
How this is computed
Weight overlap is an ETFIQ calculation: for every security both funds hold, the smaller of the two weights, summed.
ETFIQ, COWZ against FEX, data as of Oct 9, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cowz-vs-fex
ETFIQ. (Oct 9, 2026). COWZ against FEX. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cowz-vs-fex
[COWZ against FEX (ETFIQ, Oct 9, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/cowz-vs-fex)
Free to use with attribution for figures ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.