Abacus FCF Leaders ETF

Abacus FCF Leaders ETF (ABFL) is an actively managed fund that holds about 58 US stocks, mostly large and mid-sized companies. A model picks and weights them by free cash flow return on invested capital, which compares the cash a company earns with the money tied up in the business. The fund aims to beat the Russell 3000 Index with less volatility. Its 0.49% expense ratio is above the 0.33% average of similar funds.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, ABFL returned +9.7%, 8th of 9 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+8.1%); its best was 2025 (+8.1%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 19.9% (Feb 19, 2025 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Jul 3, 2025.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 58 securities; the ten largest made up 30.94% of assets.

By sector

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $12.4M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +5.00%, +4.07%, -5.35%.

ABFL does not track an index. Its adviser, Abacus FCF Advisors LLC, runs the fund with its own Abacus FCF Leaders Model. The model scores companies on free cash flow return on invested capital (FCF-ROIC). That measures the cash a business has left after paying for upkeep and investment, compared with the capital it uses. The model also looks at capital spending, accruals (reported earnings not yet backed by cash), cash flow margins and asset turnover. The goal is to find profits that look like they will last. At least 80% of net assets must be in US stocks. The model reviews companies of any size, but the fund ends up mostly in large and mid-caps.

Each stock gets an "active weight" based mainly on its FCF-ROIC score. The adviser then adjusts that weight for its view of the company's risk at that stage of the business cycle. This is blended with the stock's free-float market value (the value of shares available to trade) and rescaled. As of July 31, 2026, the fund held 58 stocks, and the top 10 made up about 31% of assets.

The biggest changes usually come during earnings seasons, when the model updates, but the adviser can trade at any time. The prospectus lists 98% portfolio turnover, meaning the fund traded close to the value of its whole portfolio in a year. The fund may use exchange-traded futures to protect against broad market swings. As of July 31, 2026, it held no derivatives.

• ABFL charges 0.49% a year, versus an average of 0.33% for the similar funds below (7th of 9, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $50 in the first year and $616 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is a concentrated, actively traded tilt toward highly profitable US stocks that may sit alongside a broad core fund rather than replace one.

ABFL could add a tilt toward cash-rich, highly profitable US companies. Its record in downturns is mixed. It launched in 2016, so it has no 2008 record. It fell 21.87% in the first quarter of 2020 but still ended that year up 18.06%. Its worst calendar year was 2022, when it lost 14.48%. In price data since December 2024, its deepest drop was 19.9%, from February 19 to April 8, 2025. It recovered by July 3, 2025, about 2.8 months later. Anyone forced to sell near a low like that would lock in the loss. Its one-year beta was 1.11, so it moved a bit more than the market despite its low-volatility goal.

Income is small: the yield was 0.6% as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. In the SEC's standard example, $10,000 invested costs $50 in fees in the first year. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports.