AAM Sawgrass US Small Cap Quality Growth ETF

AAM Sawgrass US Small Cap Quality Growth ETF (SAWS) is an actively managed fund holding 70 to 90 US small-company stocks, picked by Sawgrass Asset Management with a 26-factor scoring model and company research. Its stated goals pair long-term growth with downside protection and smaller price swings. The trade-offs: a 0.55% yearly fee (expense ratio), versus a 0.27% average for similar funds, and just $7.8 million in assets as of July 31, 2026.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, SAWS returned +4.2%, 5th of 5 among similar funds.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2025 (+7.3%); its best was 2025 (+7.3%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 22% (Nov 11, 2024 to Apr 8, 2025), recovered by Dec 11, 2025.

As of Jul 31, 2026, the fund held 72 securities; the ten largest made up 29.3% of assets, and 2.54% sat in cash and money-market holdings.

• Over the three months to Jul 31, 2026, investors added a net $504K (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: -1.20%, +11.92%, -6.08%.

SAWS, issued by Sun Life Financial, does not track an index. Sawgrass Asset Management, a sub-adviser (an outside manager), chooses the stocks. Under normal conditions, at least 80% of net assets go into US-listed small companies. The fund counts a company as small if its market value at purchase is between $300 million and the size of the largest company in the Russell 2000 Index, which was $38.2 billion as of January 31, 2026.

Picking happens in two steps. First, a computer model scores a universe of 2,000 stocks sector by sector on 26 factors in seven groups: business valuation, equity valuation, profitability, earnings quality, price volatility, smoothed momentum (a measure of price trends), and the stability of sales, earnings and margins. Analysts then pick among the top scorers based on growth prospects and the risk each company adds. As of July 31, 2026, the fund held 72 companies; the largest, StoneX Group, was 4.2% of assets.

With no index, there is no scheduled rebalance. Sawgrass drops a stock when its ranking slips, its business results or risk profile change, a more attractive stock turns up, or it grows past the small-cap range. That means frequent trading: portfolio turnover, roughly the share of holdings replaced in a year, was 80% per the prospectus filed February 27, 2026.

• SAWS charges 0.55% a year, versus an average of 0.27% for the similar funds below (5th of 5, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $56 in the first year and $689 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is an actively managed small-cap stock fund with a 0.55% fee, a short record and only $7.8 million in assets, so it fits as a small add-on rather than a foundation.

SAWS could add a slice of small US companies screened for profitability and earnings stability, next to a core fund. Its record is short: launched July 30, 2024, it has no history in the 2008, 2020 or 2022 downturns. Its only full calendar year, 2025, returned 7.34%. Despite its aim of downside protection, it fell 22% from November 11, 2024, to April 8, 2025, and needed about eight months to recover, by December 11, 2025. Withdrawing money near that low would have locked in losses.

Income is negligible: the yield (yearly income as a share of price) was 0.02% as of October 27, 2026, paid annually. Under the SEC's standard $10,000 example, the 0.55% expense ratio adds up to $56 after one year and $689 after 10 years. Past results don't predict future ones, and a retirement plan needs to look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).