December 28, 2017

Small-cap specialists since 1972.

An Introduction to Royce's Deep Value Strategy

Portfolio Manager Bill Hench describes what he and Buzz Zaino do that makes their deep value strategy distinctive.

More from Royce Investment Partners

Small-Cap Premier Quality Strategy—2Q25 Update and Outlook

How did the Small-Cap Premier Quality Strategy perform in 2Q25 and over longer-term periods? Steven McBoyle: The mutual fund we manage in the Strategy, Royce Premier Fund , advanced 6.7% for the quarter, lagging its small-cap benchmark, Russell 2000 ...

Jul 22, 2025

Royce Small-Cap Fund—2Q25 Update and Outlook

How did Royce Small-Cap Fund perform in 2Q25? Lauren Romeo: The Fund advanced 9.4% for the quarter, outperforming its benchmark, Russell 2000 Index, which was up 8.5% for the same period. How was performance for year-to-date through 6/30/25 and over ...

Jul 15, 2025

The Royce Roundtable: Small-Cap Forecast—More Volatility and Cautious Optimism

Why do you think there was a fairly wide range of returns for the major U.S. indexes in 2Q25? For example, The Russell 2000 Index gained 8.5%, the Russell Microcap Index rose 15.5%, the large-cap Russell 1000 Index was up 11.1%, and the mega-cap ...

Jul 08, 2025

Using Data and Avoiding Biases in Small-Cap Growth Investing

There are 3 primary elements of my investment process that set it apart from other-small cap growth managers: Letting tech-powered evidence, data collection, and analysis drive the investment process Recognizing and integrating behavioral biases ...

Jun 17, 2025

How a Quality Small-Cap Is Picking Up the M&A Pace, With an Assist from Private Equity Sellers

Our Co-CIO, Francis Gannon recently penned a piece that focused on the dynamics between private equity and active small-cap management. One of the points he made was that well-managed, high-quality small-caps—in other words, the kinds of companies ...

Jun 10, 2025

Four Theme-Based Holdings in Our Small-Cap Opportunistic Value Strategy

The Small-Cap Opportunistic Value Strategy that we use in Royce Small-Cap-Opportunity Fund invests in companies that Lead Portfolio Manager Brendan Hartman, Portfolio Managers Jim Harvey and Jim Stoeffel , and Assistant Portfolio Manager Kavitha ...

Jun 03, 2025

Private Exit?

The most common question we are currently getting from investors about the small-cap asset class is not what you might think. Investors already know that small-caps have underperformed their larger siblings over the past several years. They are also ...

May 27, 2025

How Small-Cap Premier Quality Investing Works

How did you become a portfolio manager who specializes in high-quality, ‘premier’ small-caps? Reading about how industry structures, different strategies, and capital allocation decisions by two companies in the same business could lead to very ...

May 20, 2025

A ‘Cool’ Way to Invest in AI

A new position in Royce Premier Fund , AAON (NYSE: AAON) benefits from increasingly strict HVAC regulations and the growing need for cooling in AI-heavy data centers. The company designs and builds custom rooftop units for commercial buildings and, ...

May 13, 2025

Miles Lewis Celebrates Five Years as Portfolio Manager of Royce Small-Cap Total Return Fund

What factors led you to join Royce in 2020? Miles Lewis: To be honest, I was not looking to leave my prior firm, American Century. We had a good team, performance was strong, and we were gaining momentum on raising assets. Most importantly, I was ...

May 06, 2025

Uncovering Quality and Value in a Japanese Small-Cap Holding

In a previous article, Quality Investing in Japanese Small-Caps , we introduced the use of Return on Net Required Operating Capital, or RORC, as a useful measure to uncover a universe of what we believe are cheap, quality businesses overlooked by ...

Apr 29, 2025

Bear Market Opportunities in Small-Cap Stocks

Brendan Hartman: As we did during prior periods of market stress in Royce Small-Cap Opportunity Fund , we’re currently finding opportunities to own higher-quality businesses that were previously too expensive or were too large to fit the Fund’s ...

Apr 22, 2025

Small-Cap Investing in the Bear Market

Miles Lewis: Joe Hintz , Jag Sriram , and I recognize that the current market backdrop is creating significant volatility and uncertainty while simultaneously also creating potential opportunities, particularly for long-term investors like us in ...

Apr 15, 2025

Tariffs, Trade, and a Bear Market—What’s Next?

These are difficult days. The Russell 2000 Index fell -9.5% in 1Q25—and declined -9.6% for the week ended 4/4/25—which was one of the 20 worst weekly performances for the small-cap index since its inception on 12/31/78. And yet, while it was ...

Apr 08, 2025

Quality Investing in Japanese Small-Caps

The International Small-Cap Premier Quality Strategy that we use in Royce International Premier Fund looks for high quality companies that can sustain high returns on invested capital (ROIC) with low leverage. Many investors may therefore be ...

Mar 25, 2025

Small-Cap Opportunities in Advertising Technology

In Royce Small-Cap Opportunity Fund , we first identified an attractive opportunity to invest in advertising technology, or Ad Tech, companies in early 2023, when the entire group’s valuation was depressed due to a cyclical decline in advertising ...

Mar 18, 2025

Tariffs On, Tariffs Off…

Trade tensions and signs of a slowing economy are mounting, and as a result it seems as if economic uncertainty is intensifying by the day. Without question, the economic news flow has been disappointing of late, be it sharp declines in consumer ...

Mar 11, 2025

Joe Hintz Makes the Case for 2 High Conviction Holdings

As we head into the end of 2025’s first quarter, there are two companies in Royce Small-Cap Total Return Fund that we think are worth highlighting as both are entering pivotal times in their respective executions on strategy and objectives: MSC ...

Mar 04, 2025

Royce Small-Cap Fund—Four Holdings in Focus

Co-CIO Francis Gannon plays an important role in our flagship fund— Royce Small-Cap Fund — monitoring and, from time to time, adjusting allocations across various segments of the Fund’s portfolio. Here, he talks about four holdings—two that enjoyed ...

Feb 25, 2025

Royce Capital Fund–Micro-Cap Portfolio Manager Commentary

Fund Performance Royce Capital Fund–Micro-Cap Portfolio advanced 13.7% in 2024, essentially even with the Russell Microcap Index, which rose 13.7%, and beating the Russell 2000 Index, which was up 11.5%, for the same period. The portfolio ...

Feb 14, 2025

4 Small-Cap Premier Holdings

In Royce Premier Fund , the mutual fund that we manage in the Strategy, one of 2024’s top contributors at the position level was SEI Investments , which provides technology and investment solutions that connect the financial services industry with ...

Feb 11, 2025

How Will Small-Caps Respond to Tariffs and Heightened Volatility?

February began with the markets swooning from President Trump’s announcement of tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. from China, Canada, and Mexico. From our vantage point as small-cap specialists, we think it is too early to gauge even the short- ...

Feb 04, 2025

Why Small-Cap Growth Looks Promising

After outperforming small-cap value in 2024, up 15.2% versus 8.1%, it might be said that small-cap growth is enjoying a moment. In fact, however, it’s been having a moment for much of the last decade. Over that span, the Russell 2000 Growth Index ...

Jan 28, 2025

Small-Cap Opportunistic Value Strategy—4Q24 Update and Outlook

How did the Small-Cap Opportunistic Value Strategy perform in 4Q24 and in 2024? Jim Harvey: We were pleased with the way that Royce Small-Cap Opportunity Fund , the portfolio we manage in the Strategy, performed in both periods. The Fund advanced ...

Jan 21, 2025

Royce Small-Cap Total Return—4Q24 Update and Outlook

How did Royce Small-Cap Total Return Fund perform in 4Q24 and over longer-term periods? Miles Lewis: The Fund, which is part of Royce’s Quality Value Strategy, advanced 4.1% for the quarter, outperforming its benchmark, Russell 2000 Value Index, ...

Jan 14, 2025