The Daily Screen: The Best Small-Cap Value Funds

Small-cap value funds have gone from playground pushover to bully this year, and the Daily Screen has singled out a few for you to consider.

First things first. These funds typically invest in companies with market caps below $1.5 billion, with valuations that are cheap relative to the market or their industry peers. With low-tech portfolios and modest valuations, these funds can provide solid shelter from the tech-led selling we're seeing these days -- the average price-to-earnings multiple of the stocks in these funds is around 20, compared with 24.6 for the S&P 500.

Over the past few years, investors have been gaga for big-cap growth funds and other tech-heavy fare, leaving these funds out in the cold until this year when valuation-conscious investors started sniffing around these mostly obscure stocks. So far this year, they're the fifth best-performing U.S. stock fund category with a 7.7% gain, compared with the mostly large-cap S&P 500's 6.3% loss.

Small Wonders Small-cap value funds have been on a roll in the past year.
	Avg. Small Cap Value	S&P 500
YTD Return	7.7%	-6.3
1-Year Return	18	7.7
5-Year Return	12	20.8
10-Year Return	15	18.9
Source: Morningstar. Annualized performance figures through Oct. 30.

It's important to keep in mind that these funds might not be one-hit wonders. Before investors' big-cap love affair started in 1995, small-cap value funds beat the S&P 500 in 1991, 1992 and 1993, according to Morningstar. If you'd kept a modest amount of your portfolio in this pocket of the market, this year wouldn't have been so painful, so the Daily Screen has singled out 10 funds you might consider.

We've sifted the category for funds that beat their average peers over the past one- and three-year periods and listed the top 10, ranked by their one-year returns. Then we lumped all the leading funds' portfolios together to see what stocks have driven their performance.

First, the funds.

Leading Small-Cap Value Funds
Fund	1-Year Return	3-Year Annualized
(SSRAX Quote)State St Research Aurora	51	12.4
(RYLPX Quote)Royce Low-Priced Stock	48.7	16.2
(BRUSX Quote)Bridgeway Ultra-Small Com	42.4	6.4
(HSCVX Quote)Harris Insight Small Cap	41.4	7.4
(MNTEX Quote)Monterey PIA Equity	40.5	9.6
(RYPNX Quote)Royce Opportunity	40.4	17.5
(RYOTX Quote)Royce Micro-Cap Inv	32.4	7.9
(RGFAX Quote)Royce Trust & Giftshares	31.4	23.3
(LDRSX Quote)Lindner Small-Cap Inv	28.1	4.8
(AMRRX Quote)Armada Small Cap Value A	27.1	6.2f
(AMRRX Quote)Avg. Tech fund	39.8	41.1
(AMRRX Quote)S&P 500	5.2	15
Source: Morningstar. Annualized performance figures through Oct. 30.

As you can see, Royce Funds is a player in this market niche. Charles Royce and his colleagues are steady hands. In addition to the three no-load funds on our list, you might take a look at Royce Total Return, which takes a slightly less aggressive approach than the Royce funds on our list. The Total Return fund missed the cut because its returns over the past 12 months narrowly trailed its peers.

In addition, if you're looking for a small-cap value fund you should consider the Third Avenue Value fund. Longtime manager Marty Whitman tends to have a big weighting in financial stocks and low turnover, leading to solid returns and tax efficiency. The fund's 25.2% one-year return just missed our cut.

As for the stocks that fueled these funds' returns, it's unlikely you'll recognize many names. Keep in mind as you look over the list, Royce managers' favorites are well represented.

Under the Hood The stocks with the biggest weighting in the combined portfolios of the 10 above funds.
Stock	Weighting in Top-10 Funds	Number of Top-10 Funds Owning the Stock
Richardson Electronics(RELL Quote)	0.9%	4
Input/Output(IO Quote)	0.8	3
Pure Resources(PRS Quote)	0.7	2
Spherion(SFN Quote)	0.6	2
Medical Assurance(MAI Quote)	0.6	2
Denbury Resources(DNR Quote)	0.5	4
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.(AJG Quote)	0.5	2
Performance Tech(PTIX Quote)	0.5	2
Carbo Ceramics(CRR Quote)	0.5	3
Unify(UNFY Quote)	0.5	1
Source: Morningstar. Holdings as of funds' most recent portfolio reports.