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Buy These 3 Small-Cap Blend Mutual Funds for Fantastic Returns

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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 greater 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) , Nuveen Quant Small Cap Equity (TCSEX - Free Report) and MassMutual Small Cap Opportunities Fund (MSCDX - 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 approach while maintaining a risk profile similar to that of the MSCI US Small Cap 1750 Index.

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund has three-year annualized returns of 15%. As of the end of June 2025, VSTCX had 561 issues and invested 0.8% of its net assets in Popular.

Nuveen Quant Small Cap Equity fund invests most of its net assets in small-cap domestic equity securities with market capitalization within the range of companies included on the Russell 2000 Index at the time of purchase. TCSEX advisors generally choose to invest across a wide range of sectors with attractive growth rates and valuations.

Nuveen Quant Small Cap Equity fund has three-year annualized returns of 13.9%.TCSEX has an expense ratio of 0.76%.

MassMutual Small Cap Opportunities Fund seeks capital appreciation by investing most of its assets, along with borrowings, if any, in small-cap common stocks of U.S. companies with market capitalization similar to the companies listed on the Russell 2000 Index at the time of purchase. MSCDX advisors use fundamental analysis, like favorable business trends along with prospects, to make investment decisions.

MassMutual Small Cap Opportunities Fund has three-year annualized returns of 12.2%. Matthew P. Ziehl has been one of the fund managers of MSCDX since May 2009.

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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