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3 Small-Cap Growth Mutual Funds Worthy of Your Attention

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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 their market capitalization may increase subsequently. Less international exposure makes small-cap funds less vulnerable to a stronger U.S. dollar.

Although small-cap stocks are believed to provide greater returns, they are expected to be more volatile than large and mid-cap companies. Also, growth funds may experience more fluctuations than the other fund classes.

Risk-taking investors who prefer capital appreciation over dividend payout may consider small-cap growth mutual funds. Growth funds focus on realizing an appreciable amount of capital growth by investing in stocks projected to rise in value over the long term. Meanwhile, small-cap funds are good choices for investors seeking diversification across different sectors and companies.

Below, we share with you three small-cap growth mutual funds, namely Putnam Small Cap Growth (PNSAX - Free Report) , Northern Small Cap Core Fund (NSGRX - Free Report) and Fidelity Small Cap Growth K6 (FOCSX - Free Report) . Each has earned 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 funds.

Putnam Small Cap Growth fund invests most of its net assets in small-cap growth stocks of U.S.-based companies that have a market cap similar to the Russell 2000 Growth Index during the time of purchase. PNSAX advisors choose to invest in companies whose earnings are expected to grow faster than their competitors in terms of business growth and other characteristics which may lead to an appreciation in stock price.

Putnam Small Cap Growth fund has returned 4.3% in the past three years.  As of the end of December 2023, PNSAX had 87 issues and 2.2% of its assets were invested in Comfort Systems USA.

Northern Small Cap Core Fund aims to invest most of its assets, along with borrowings, if any, in equity securities of small-cap companies with market capitalization within the range of market cap of companies listed on the Russell 2000 Index at the time of purchase. NSGRX invests in companies that retain their earnings to finance current and future growth and generally pay little or no dividends.

Northern Small Cap Core Fund has returned 3.3% in the past five years. NSGRX has an expense ratio of 0.59%.

Fidelity Small Cap Growth K6 Fund invests most of its net assets in common stocks of small-capitalization companies. FOCSX advisors consider small-cap companies as those with market capitalization similar to the ones listed on the Russell 2000 Growth Index or the S&P SmallCap 600 Index.

Fidelity Small Cap Growth K6 Fund has five-year annualized returns of 2.5%. Slava Kruzement-Prykhodko has been one of the fund managers of FOCSX since September 2023.

To view the Zacks Rank and the past performance of all small-cap growth mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of small-cap growth mutual funds.

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