A Rewarding Small-Value Fund for the Long Term

Linda Abu Mushrefova: Boston Partners Small Cap Value II receives a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver. It is backed by a deep bench led by lead manager David Dabora, who has been at the helm since the strategy's inception in 1998. He has further support from comanager George Gumpert, a dedicated small-cap stock analyst, and Boston Partners' centralized research team.

Together, the team applies a proven approach that combines quantitative screening and bottom-up, fundamental research aimed at finding stocks with solid fundamentals, positive business momentum and that are trading at attractive valuations. This approach is adopted firm-wide at Boston Partners and has rewarded investors historically through strong security selection. The fund has topped its small-value Morningstar Category peers and Russell 2000 Value Index benchmark in every rolling 10-year period from its July 1998 inception through December 2018. Its consistency is the result of their disciplined approach and strong stock-picking abilities.

It won't be on top in every market environment. Historically, it has protected on the downside at the expense of some upside return in frothier market environments. But its deep resources and disciplined approach should continue to reward investors over the long term.