Royce Small-Cap Special Equity Fund Is One of Morningstar’s “All Weather Funds”—Royce
article 01-26-2023

Royce Small-Cap Special Equity Fund Is One of Morningstar’s “All Weather Funds”

Morningstar’s John Rekenthaler mentioned Royce Small-Cap Special Equity Fund’s Investment Class as one of five funds that qualify in his view as “all weather.”

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On 1/12/23, Morningstar’s John Rekenthaler discussed five funds that he believes are “all weather,” including Royce Small-Cap Special Equity Fund, which is managed by Charlie Dreifus, CFA®, in “All-Weather Stock Funds Do Exist: Unfortunately, almost nobody owns them.”

In making his determination, he first examined mutual fund and ETF performance in three bear market years: 2022, 2008, and 2022. Only diversified U.S. equity funds with at least 21 years of history that also invested an average of 85% of their assets in stocks were eligible for the study. Rekenthaler then screened for funds that had returns of -19.43% or better in 2022 (a return hurdle he admits is “very much relative”) before further screening for those that had also beaten the Morningstar US Market Index in both 2008 and 2002.

The next step involved determining which funds had also demonstrated solid overall performance over the last 21 years, which led him to screen for portfolios that outperformed the Morningstar US Market’s average annualized return of 8.17% from 2002-2021. He then further refined his test by defining as “all weather” those funds “that have outgained the overall stock market over the long haul while also experiencing less than 70% of the stock market’s decline in 2002, 2008, and 2022.” That whittled the list down to five funds, each of which is “sponsored by a niche organization… have relatively few shareholders, and their performances are driven by small to midsized companies that sell at low price multiples.”

You can read the piece here.

About the Morningstar US Market Index

The Morningstar US Market Index measures the performance of U.S. securities and targets 97% market capitalization coverage of the investable universe. It is a diversified broad market index that does not incorporate environmental, Social, or Governance (ESG) criteria.

Important Disclosure Information

Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/2022 (%)

  QTD1 1YR 3YR 5YR 10YR SINCE
INCEPT.
DATE ANNUAL
OPERATING EXPENSES
NET               GROSS
Small-Cap Special Equity 11.48 -6.33 7.22 4.59 7.42 8.45 05/01/98  1.20  1.20
Russell 2000 Value
8.42 -14.48 4.70 4.13 8.48 7.41 N/A  N/A  N/A
Russell 2000
6.23 -20.44 3.10 4.13 9.01 6.77 N/A  N/A  N/A
1 Not annualized.

All performance information reflects past performance, is presented on a total return basis, reflects the reinvestment of distributions, and does not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on fund distributions or the redemption of fund shares. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate, so that shares may be worth more or less than their original cost when redeemed. Shares redeemed within 30 days of purchase may be subject to a 1% redemption fee, payable to the Fund, which is not reflected in the performance shown above; if it were, performance would be lower. Current month-end performance may be higher or lower than performance quoted and may be obtained at www.royceinvest.com. Operating expenses reflect the Fund's total annual operating expenses for the Investment Class as of the Fund's most current prospectus and include management fees and other expenses.

Frank Russell Company (“Russell”) is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell® is a trademark of Frank Russell Company. Neither Russell nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the Russell Indexes and/or Russell ratings or underlying data and no party may rely on any Russell Indexes and/or Russell ratings and/or underlying data contained in this communication. No further distribution of Russell Data is permitted without Russell’s express written consent. Russell does not promote, sponsor or endorse the content of this communication. The Russell 2000 Value and Growth indices consist of the respective value and growth stocks within the Russell 2000 as determined by Russell Investments. The Russell 2000 is an unmanaged, capitalization-weighted index of domestic small-cap stocks. It measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest publicly traded U.S. companies in the Russell 3000 index. The performance of an index does not represent exactly any particular investment, as you cannot invest directly in an index.

This material is not authorized for distribution unless preceded or accompanied by a current prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing or sending money. The Fund invests primarily in small-cap stocks which may involve considerably more risk than investing in larger-cap stocks. (Please see "Primary Risks for Fund Investors" in the prospectus.) As of 12/31/22, the Fund invested a significant portion of its assets in a limited number of stocks, which may involve considerably more risk than more broadly diversified portfolio because a decline in the value of any one of these stocks would cause the Fund’s overall value to decline to a greater degree. (Please see "Primary Risks for Fund Investors" in the prospectus.)

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