Small-cap companies provide a fertile ground for active managers with a systematic approach and the support of a dedicated research team. Stephen Lanzendorf, portfolio manager of the QS U.S. Small Capitalization Equity Fund, explains how the wider spread between outperforming and underperforming small-cap stocks offers numerous opportunities to managers whose

A key advantage of multi-manager funds, among other benefits for individual investors, is the ability to provide access to high quality sub-advisors through their expertise and scale. Portfolio manager Cynthia Thatcher follows a disciplined process of identifying, monitoring and allocating capital to a selection of value managers under American Beacon’s

A chronically underfollowed segment of the market, the small-cap arena has become even more complex for investors with its increasingly global nature in recent years. James MacGregor explains how the AB Discovery Value Fund benefits from a rigorous approach to active management and a steady flow of insights from the

U.S. interest rates have been so low for so long that the possibility of a rate increase is one of the largest embedded risks in the widely followed bond market indices. Joseph Higgins, portfolio manager of the TIAA-CREF Bond Fund, keeps risk at the forefront by seeking to mitigate volatility

Separating winners from losers among myriad companies is never easy in the small-cap universe. Christopher S. Beck, portfolio manager of the Delaware Small Cap Value Fund, and the members of his team combine quantitative and qualitative research to identify companies that have the financial strength and proven capacity to generate

The ever-growing data processing power has enabled asset managers to harness the availability of a wide range of data, including financial and broader business-related metrics, as part of their quantitative models. Osman Ali, portfolio manager of the Goldman Sachs Small Cap Growth Insights Fund, explains how the management team relies

While companies with a track record of dividend payment are known to be better allocators of capital, their stocks tend to be less susceptible to volatility too. However, the truth is that not all dividend payers are worth investing in. Jay Kaplan, portfolio manager of the Royce Total Return Fund,

A quantitative approach to the small-cap universe is an efficient way to separate companies with improving characteristics from their degrading counterparts among thousands of stocks. Robert H. Bergson, portfolio manager of the Northern Small Cap Value Fund, relies on a two-pronged quantitative approach in filtering out low-quality businesses from the

One of the common characteristics of smaller companies is the combination of a limited product portfolio with infrequent access to capital markets. What is more, investors are prone to sell small-cap stocks first and ask questions later at the slightest hint of distress. Portfolio manager Jim Hasso and a team

Underfollowed and often completely ignored, companies smaller than $500 million in market cap are rarely the subject of interest for research teams. However, investors with patience and the willingness to stomach volatility may identify potential gems that could deliver attractive returns. The AIG Small-Cap Fund blends an index sleeve with