ETF Evaluator: Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF () Follow This ETF

Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF Overview

Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF (ABLS) is a passively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend exchange-traded fund (ETF). FCF Funds launched the ETF in 2025.

The investment seeks to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders Index. To pursue its investment objective, the fund invests, under normal market circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in component securities of the underlying index. The underlying index is a rules-based equity index designed to track the performance of the small-cap segment of U.S. publicly traded companies with strong free cash flow return on invested capital (“FCF-ROIC”), drawing from the Adviser’s exclusive research. The fund is non-diversified.

About Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF (ABLS)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 1.45 years: Vince (Qijun) Chen (2025), Fei Xue (2025) and Tom MacDonald (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has 48 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 50.1% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a nondiversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity ETF group. Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 97.5% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has 2.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $464 million in total assets, which is below the $4 billion average for the Small Blend category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

ABLS Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has an expense ratio of 0.39%, which is 8% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 83%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 50% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF returned -3.5%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Small Blend category had an average return of -2.1%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF has a trailing yield of 11.34%, which is above the 1.17% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Abacus FCF Small Cap Leaders ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 13.9%, 4.1 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 25.5% over the past year (grade of D).

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