A Contrarian Approach Pays Off for This Small-Cap Fund

digital image of a small pink fish swimming in the opposite direction as several small blue fish — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Tariff worries have hurt stocks in companies of all sizes. But small-company stocks bore the brunt of the pain. The Russell 2000 Index fell as much as 28% from peak to trough during the worst of the market selloff earlier this year.

A small recovery has helped lift returns – some. All told, over the past 12 months, the benchmark logged a slim, 1.2% gain. The T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value Fund (PRSVX) – a member of the Kiplinger 25, our favorite no-load mutual funds – fared better with a 3.0% gain.

Fund manager David Wagner spent the market's worst days being a contrarian. He trimmed stakes in utility stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs), which were performing well, and invested in "the most economically sensitive and tariff-exposed names," says Wagner, including retail and restaurant businesses, as well as materials and chemicals companies with exposure to global trade.

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"People were overreacting to potential changes in tariffs. I'm not saying we don't view it as a problem, but none of this stuff is settled," he says.

Betting on better results

Wagner bought a stake in shoe company Steven Madden (SHOO) after the shares lost nearly half their value. It is the number-one importer of women's shoes in the country, he says, with a big chunk coming from China. Since hitting a low in mid-April, the stock has recovered 27%.

Wagner likes to focus on unloved fare, but lately he says he's drawn to companies with a "differentiated" approach.

Carvana (CVNA), for instance, "has upended the way people buy used cars," he says. He bought the stock as the firm teetered toward bankruptcy for $30 a share in late 2023; it recently traded for $327.

"It's a large cap now,” he says. "But we let it run. We invest with a long time horizon, and we don't sell arbitrarily when stocks surpass" small-cap measures.

Wagner has run Small-Cap Value since mid-2014. Over the past decade, his 7.7% annualized return beat 72% of his peers.

This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.

Nellie joined Kiplinger in August 2011 after a seven-year stint in Hong Kong. There, she worked for the Wall Street Journal Asia, where as lifestyle editor, she launched and edited Scene Asia, an online guide to food, wine, entertainment and the arts in Asia. Prior to that, she was an editor at Weekend Journal, the Friday lifestyle section of the Wall Street Journal Asia. Kiplinger isn't Nellie's first foray into personal finance: She has also worked at SmartMoney (rising from fact-checker to senior writer), and she was a senior editor at Money.