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3 Small-Cap Blend Mutual Funds That Deserve Your Attention

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Risk-loving investors, who give precedence to capital appreciation along with dividend payouts, may consider small-cap blend mutual funds to derive healthy returns. These funds focus on realizing an appreciable amount of capital growth by investing in stocks that are projected to rise over the long term.

Meanwhile, small-cap funds are good choices for investors seeking diversification across different sectors and companies. Small-cap funds generally invest in companies having a market cap lower than $2 billion.

The companies, smaller in size, offer growth potential, and their market capitalization may increase subsequently. Also, due to their less international exposure, small-cap funds offer higher protection than their large and mid-cap counterparts in any global downturn.

Below, we share with you three top-ranked, small-cap growth mutual funds, namely Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund (VSTCX - Free Report) , DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio (DFSCX - Free Report) and Fidelity Advisor Series Small Cap (FSSFX - 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 small-cap blend funds.

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund invests most of its net assets in domestic equity securities of small-capitalization companies, which its advisors believe have strong growth prospects as well as reasonable valuations with respect to their industry peers. VSTCX advisors choose to invest using a quantitative process while maintaining a risk profile similar to that of MSCI US Small Cap 1750 Index.

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund has three-year annualized returns of 10.3%. As of the end of September 2023, VSTCX had 526 issues and invested 0.9% of its net assets in Emcor Group.

DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio fund invests most of its net assets in a broad and diverse group of domestic micro-cap companies using a market-capitalization-weighted approach. DFSCX advisors also purchase or sell futures contracts and options of U.S. equity securities and indices.

DFA U.S. Micro Cap Portfolio has three-year annualized returns of 10.1%. DFSCX has an expense ratio of 0.41% compared with the category average of 1.03%.

Fidelity Advisor Series Small Cap Fund invests most of its net assets in small-cap domestic and foreign issues with market capitalization similar to the companies listed on the Russell 2000 Index or the S&P SmallCap 600 Index at the time of purchase. FSSFX advisors choose to invest in either growth or value stocks or sometimes both.

Fidelity Advisor Series Small Cap Fund has three-year annualized returns of 6.7%. Jennifer Fo Cardillo has been one of the fund managers of FSSFX since July 2018.

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

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