T. Rowe's Small Cap Value Unlocks the Door

July 22, 2008

Kiplinger reports that T.Rowe Price Small-Cap Value fund (PRSVX) re-opened to new investors in the spring.

Yet another venerable fund has reopened its doors to new investors. After being shut for six years, T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value quietly began accepting new money in May.

With assets of $5.2 billion and 300 stock holdings, Small-Cap Value is a large small-company fund. Preston Athey has run the fund (symbol PRSVX) since August 1991, and he's run it skillfully. Over the past ten years through June 30, the fund returned an annualized 10% -- an average of 4.5 percentage points per year better than the Russell 2000 index of small-company stocks and two and a half points per year ahead of the Russell 2000 Value index.

Athey says the breadth of his holdings helps dampen the portfolio's volatility, which is lower than that of the Russell 2000. 'I believe in having a broadly diversified portfolio with representations in nearly all industries,' he says. 'I'm not smart enough to tell you what the best sectors will be the next two years.'"

Smaller cap stocks have been under-performing larger caps. This, plus a weak stock market, has led to opportunities to get into some previously closed mutual funds.

So should you hop in while the door's open? We probably wouldn't. While T.Rowe Price Small-Cap Value is a solid fund with low fees, it is still a bit too large in terms of investor assets for our taste. In other words, they should have kept this one closed for a while longer.

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