A small-cap value fund is a good choice for investors seeking diversification across sectors and companies and focusing on gaining exposure to stocks trading at a discount. Investors with a high-risk appetite tend to buy these funds. Small-cap funds generally invest in companies having a market cap of less than $2 billion. The companies, smaller in size, offer growth potential and can subsequently see an increase in market capitalization.
Value stocks are those that trade at a price lower than their fundamentals (i.e., earnings, book value, debt equity). It is a common practice to invest in value funds for income or yield.
However, not all value funds comprise only those companies that primarily use their earnings to pay out dividends. Investors interested in picking value funds for yield should check the mutual fund yield, which is the total dividend payout divided by the value of the mutual fund’s shares.
Below, we share with you three top-ranked small-cap value mutual funds, viz., Invesco Small Cap Value VSCAX, DFA US Targeted Value DFFVX and Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq SPSAX. Each has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. Investors can click here to see the complete list of Small Cap Value mutual funds.
Invesco Small Cap Value seeks capital appreciation. VSCAX invests in a diversified portfolio of equity securities of small-capitalization companies that the fund’s investment adviser believes are undervalued.
Invesco Small Cap Value has three-year annualized returns of 17.4%. As of April 2024, VSCAX held 104 issues, with 3.2% of its assets invested in Vertiv Holdings Co.
DFA US Targeted Value fund invests most of its net assets in a well-diversified portfolio of readily marketable domestic small and mid-cap companies, which, according to its advisor, are value stocks with high profitability. DFFVX advisors also invest in futures and options contracts of U.S. equity securities and indices.
DFA US Targeted Value has three-year annualized returns of 10.8%. DFFVX has an expense ratio of 0.30%.
Sterling Capital Behavioral Small Cap Value Equity seeks a long-term total return on investment. SPSAX invests in small-cap companies, defining them as firms with market capitalization within the range of those companies on the Russell 2000 Index at the time of purchase.
Sterling Capital Behavioral Small Cap Value Equity has three-year annualized returns of 9.2%. Robert O. Weller has been one of the fund managers of SPSAX since September 2013.
To view the Zacks Rank and the past performance of all small-cap value mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of small cap value mutual funds.
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