Advisors Turn to VictoryShares as VFLO Reaches $10B, GFLW Crosses $1B

Value strategies have led year-to-date in 2026, but growth hasn’t dropped out of the conversation. For financial advisors weighing both factors, free cash flow (FCF) offers a lens that doesn’t force the choice. Strong FCF, the cash left after operating expenses, interest, taxes, and capital expenditures, is something VictoryShares and Solutions believe is a durable marker of quality on either side of that allocation.Two VictoryShares FCF ETFs applying that lens have just crossed major assets under management (AUM) milestones. The VictoryShares Free Cash Flow ETF (VFLO B+) crossed $10 billion in assets on August 13, 2026, while the VictoryShares Free Cash Flow Growth ETF (GFLW ), another ETF in the VictoryShares’ FCF ETF suite, surpassed the $1 billion threshold that same day. VFLO reached $10 billion in just over three years since its June 2023 launch, and GFLW cleared $1 billion in under two years since its December 2024 debut. The pace of adoption reflects advisors applying a single FCF quality screen across both value and growth sleeves, rather than switching frameworks by style box. For advisors, the practical read is this: as clients ask how to position across value and growth, FCF gives you one screen designed to work on both sides. VFLO applies it to large-cap value with a filter for value traps; GFLW applies it to large-cap growth with a filter for cash-burning names. Quality has been a focal point in recent markets, and strong FCF is arguably one durable marker of it.Key Takeaways: VFLO and GFLW recently surpassed $10 billion and $1 billion in AUM, respectively, marking growing advisor use of a single FCF quality lens across the value/growth allocation. VFLO offers disciplined large-cap value exposure by tracking an Index that combines trailing and forward FCF with a fundamental growth filter intended to help avoid value traps. GFLW’s indexed approach seeks exposure to high-quality, larger-cap growth companies with a track record of positive FCF growth and high FCF return on invested capital. See Why This Matters Now: Free Cash Flow: Quality in a High-CapEx EnvironmentAbout VFLO: Large-Cap Value Anchored in QualityVFLO tracks the Victory U.S. Large Cap Free Cash Flow Index (the “VFLO Index”), offering an alternative approach to combining traditional value metrics (e.g., price-to-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratio) when assessing large-cap value allocation. The VFLO Index focuses on a singular metric: FCF. Unlike accounting earnings that can be vulnerable to manipulation due to subjective factors, we believe FCF can be a more reliable indicator of a company’s financial health. The VFLO Index screens for companies with high expected FCF yields by using a backward- and forward-looking screener. The VFLO Index evaluates the average of the trailing 12-month and forward 12-month FCF against enterprise value. Because enterprise value rises with net debt, the yield screen structurally captures companies that fund themselves from cash flow rather than leverage. As such, the VFLO Index favors balance sheets with lower net debt. Designed to avoid value traps, a fundamental growth filter aims to remove structurally declining businesses. This ultimately leaves a concentrated 50-stock portfolio that includes, among others, sector allocations in Information Technology, Energy, and Health Care. The VFLO Index eligibility criteria remove companies with negative average forward/trailing free cash flow or EPS, and its selection further screens for sales, EBITDA, and long-term EPS growth trends. This design reflects a broader lesson from academic research (Penman & Reggiani, 2018), which found that holding earnings yield constant, low book-rate-of-return (ROE) stocks, often value stocks, exhibited higher but more volatile subsequent earnings growth, meaning investors buying on yield alone could be taking on undiversified ‘growth risk’ without realizing it. (Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. 74, No. 4). As of July 31, 2026, VFLO returned 26.81% (NAV) and 26.84% (market price) year-to-date, compared to 20.67% for the Russell 1000® Value Index.About GFLW: Disciplined Exposure to GrowthFor investors seeking capital appreciation via growth strategies, GFLW tracks the Victory Free Cash Flow Growth Index (the “GFLW Index”). The GFLW Index screens 100 constituents from the VettaFi 1000 Index based on cash generation and capital efficiency. By doing so, it is designed to limit exposure to headline hype associated with the latest initial public offerings (IPOs) and heavy market concentration in Magnificent Seven (Mag 7)1 names. The process starts with the GFLW Index applying a positive free cash flow trend eligibility screen, to the VettaFi 1000 Index. The GFLW Index then narrows to the 400 largest eligible companies by float market capitalization. From this group, the GFLW Index selects the top 150 companies with the highest free cash flow relative to invested capital, a measure of how efficiently a company turns deployed capital into cash, before applying a final growth filter that selects the 100 companies with the strongest sales trends, EBITDA trends, and consensus long-term EPS growth estimates. Both VFLO and GFLW Indexes systematically exclude Financials and Real Estate, where balance sheet structures can potentially distort standard cash metrics. Where VFLO measures FCF against enterprise value, GFLW measures it against invested capital. FCF ROIC (expected FCF divided by invested capital, using the same average of trailing 12-month and forward 12-month FCF that VFLO uses) reflects how efficiently a business turns deployed capital into spendable cash. The framing is different from yield: yield asks what an investor pays for a company’s FCF, while ROIC asks how much capital the company itself needed to produce it. Companies that grow FCF without proportionally growing their capital base score higher, which in our opinion, structurally tilts the Index toward capital-light business models, efficient operations, and durable competitive advantages. The screen also functions as GFLW’s answer to VFLO’s value-trap filter: the GFLW Index is designed to identify and exclude businesses that fail the growth filter and high-margin, capital-heavy names whose returns on capital are structurally low. In VictoryShares and Solutions’ analysis2 of Russell 1000 Index constituents from 1999 through 2025, the top FCF ROIC quintile delivered the highest risk-adjusted returns among common quality and growth metrics, outpacing Return on Equity (ROE), FCF margin, gross margin, EPS growth, and sales growth. As of July 31, 2026, GFLW returned 13.47% (NAV) and 13.51% (market price) year-to-date, compared to 0.32% for the Russell 1000® Growth Index.Designed for Value Without the Traps, Growth Without the BurnTogether, VFLO and GFLW give advisors one FCF quality lens across both sides of a value/growth allocation: a value sleeve screened against structural decline to help avoid value traps, a growth sleeve screened against cash burn to help avoid unprofitable growers. That matters in today’s market, where mega cap hype and heavy AI CapEx have concentrated performance in a narrow set of names. As of July 31, 2026, between VFLO’s 50 holdings and GFLW’s 100, only one Mag 7 name appears, NVIDIA (NVDA), held by GFLW at a 3.76%; VFLO holds none. For advisors mindful of single-stock and factor concentration risk in their clients’ allocations, the FCF-quality screens offer exposure that isn’t dependent on mega cap beta. “On the VFLO side we have a product that says you can do better in a value environment and hold serve in a growth environment. With GFLW it’s quite the opposite,” said Mannik Dhillon, Victory Capital’s President of Investment Franchises & Solutions and Head of ETFs, in a recent ETF Spotlight interview with VettaFi (June 2026). “What’s interesting is you have so many clients now pairing the two together because they’re great complements to one another.” The framework extends across three other FCF ETFs in the VictoryShares suite: VictoryShares Small Cap Free Cash Flow ETF (SFLO ) in U.S. small cap, and VictoryShares International Free Cash Flow ETF (IFLO ) and VictoryShares International Free Cash Flow Growth ETF (GRIN ) in international value and growth, respectively, giving advisors the option to apply the same FCF lens across market caps and geographies. VFLO and GFLW pose the same underlying question: how efficiently does this business turn capital into cash? The combined $11 billion in assets across the pair signals how much traction VictoryShares’ innovation in FCF investing has earned across advisor style boxes. 1 The Magnificent Seven (Mag 7) consists of Alphabet (GOOGL; GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), and Tesla (TSLA). 2 Source: FactSet; Analysis period 12/31/1999-12/31/2025. Universe utilized for analysis is the Russell 1000® Index with equal weighted constituents (excluding Financials and Real Estate). The top quintile of quality and growth metrics were used in this analysis. Standard Deviation (SD) measures an investment’s historical volatility or risk. It shows how an investment’s annual rate of return is spread out on either side of the mean rate of return. A low SD means performance has not deviated much from the mean. A high SD means returns varied widely. Free cash flow (FCF) is a key fundamental metric that measures a company’s ability to generate cash, indicating financial health. ROE is a measure of a company’s financial performance. FCF Margin is a financial ratio that measures the percentage of FCF generated by a company relative to its total revenue. Gross Margin is a profitability measure that looks at a company’s gross profit compared to its revenue or sales. EPS Growth is a measure of the percentage of change in a company’s net profitability on a per-share basis. Sales Growth is a measure of the increase in net sale of a business from one fiscal period to another. The case study is updated on an annual basis. For more news, information, and analysis, visit the Free Cash Flow Content Hub VettaFi LLC (“VettaFi”) is the index provider for SFLO, IFLO, GRIN, VFLO and GFLW, for which it receives an index licensing fee. However, SFLO, IFLO, GRIN, VFLO and GFLW are not issued, sponsored, endorsed, or sold by VettaFi, and VettaFi has no obligation or liability in connection with the issuance, administration, marketing, or trading of SFLO, IFLO, GRIN, VFLO or GFLW.Disclosure InformationCarefully consider a fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a prospectus or summary prospectus containing this and other important information, visit //www.vcm.com/prospectus. Read it carefully before investing. All investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. The market prices of securities may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, recessions, inflation, or changes in interest or currency rates. The Funds have the same risks as the underlying securities traded on the exchange throughout the day. ETFs may trade at a premium or discount to their net asset value. Investing in companies with high free cash flows could lead to underperformance when such investments are unpopular or during periods of industry disruptions. The Funds could also be affected by company-specific factors that could jeopardize the generation of free cash flow. Index Funds invest in securities included in, or representative of securities included in, the Index, regardless of their investment merits. The performance of the Funds may diverge from that of their Indexes. Large shareholders, including other funds advised by the Adviser, may own a substantial amount of the Funds’ shares. The actions of large shareholders, including large inflows or outflows of cash, may adversely affect other shareholders, including potentially increasing capital gains. Investments concentrated in an industry or group of industries may face more risks and exhibit higher volatility than investments that are more broadly diversified over industries or sectors. Investments in companies in the energy sector may be subject to substantial government regulation, as well as risks involving changes in energy prices, international political instability, and liability for environmental damage and accidents resulting in loss of life or property. Investments in companies in the industrials sector, including producers of durable goods and companies that process raw materials, may be adversely affected by changes in supply and demand for products and services, governmental regulation and changes in spending policies, world events and economic conditions. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be affected by government regulations and healthcare programs, fluctuations in the cost of, and demand for, medical products and services and product liability claims. Derivatives may not work as intended and may result in losses. The value of your investment is also subject to geopolitical risks such as wars, terrorism, trade disputes, environmental disasters, and public health crises; the risk of technology malfunctions or disruptions; and the responses to such events by governments and/or individual companies. The Funds may frequently change their holdings, resulting in higher fees, lower returns, and more capital gains. The Victory U.S. Large Cap Free Cash Flow Index aims to select high- quality companies from its starting universe by applying profitability screens. It then selects companies with the strongest free cash flow yield that exhibit higher growth. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted quarterly. This Index calculates free cash flow yield by dividing expected free cash flow by enterprise value. Expected free cash flow is the average of trailing 12-month FCF and next 12-month forward free cash flow. Enterprise value (EV) measures a company’s total value, often used as a more comprehensive alternative to equity market capitalization. The Victory Free Cash Flow Growth Index focuses on high quality profitable companies that display a positive free cash flow trend. It selects larger cap companies with the highest free cash flow relative to invested capital that also exhibit higher growth. The VettaFi 1000 Index represents the 1,000 largest U.S. stocks. The Russell 1000® Value Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index that measures the performance of Russell1000® Index companies with lower price-to-book ratios and lower forecasted growth rates. The Russell 1000® Growth Index is a market-capitalization-weighted index that measures the performance of Russell 1000® Index companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. Indexes are unmanaged; their returns include reinvestment of dividends and other income but do not reflect management fees, transaction costs or expenses. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Return on Equity (RoE) is a measure of financial performance calculated by dividing net income by shareholder’s equity. Free cash flow margin (FCF margin) is the percentage of a company’s revenue that is converted into free cash flow after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures. Gross margin is the percentage of revenue a company retains after subtracting the direct costs of producing its goods or services. EPS growth refers to the percentage increase or decrease in a company’s earnings per share (EPS) over time, showing how quickly its per‑share profitability is improving. Sales growth is the measurable increase in a company’s revenue from selling products or services over a specific period. Beta measures the price volatility, or the level of risk, of a stock relative to the broader market. A beta of 1 indicates that the security’s price has moved with the market. A beta of less than 1 means that the security has been less volatile than the market. A beta of greater than 1 indicates that the security’s price has been more volatile than the market. Distributed by Victory Capital Services, Inc. (VCS). VCS is not affiliated with VettaFi. 20260821-5850302