American Funds SMALLCAP World Fund® Class R-6 RLLGX

American Funds Smallcap World’s host of experienced managers and a formidable analyst bench set it apart from its peers. With a global small-cap universe of roughly 6,000 companies, a large team is a significant edge.

The breadth of resources that Capital Group has dedicated to Smallcap World reflects its size. It is by far the largest fund in the global small/mid-stock Morningstar Category with nearly USD 90 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2026. The firm manages the large asset base by splitting it between its three equity subsidiaries. Seventeen named managers use their own investment styles to independently run sleeves of the portfolio, drawing on the work of roughly 150 analysts. The fund also includes a research sleeve from each subsidiary’s analysts.

Lead Principal Investment Officer Julian Abdey allocates capital among the managers and research portfolios, working closely with PIOs Brad Freer and Dimitrije Mitrinovic, who oversee their respective subsidiary teams. Under Abdey’s watch, the team has taken steps to reduce the research sleeve to just less than one-third of assets while reducing the total number of holdings to around 800. Bottom-up research drives portfolio construction, though the firm’s quantitative research group helps the team monitor the characteristics of the overall fund. On average, the portfolio leans toward higher-growth companies at the larger end of the small-cap spectrum because managers tend to hold onto their winners as they grow beyond standard small-cap size.

The strategy hit a rough patch from 2024 to 2025, but recent gains have improved its results over standard trailing periods. Through September 2026, it lagged the MSCI ACWI Small Cap index but beat the average global small/mid-stock category peer in the trailing one-, three-, and five-year periods. The portfolio’s growth tilt was a headwind as international value stocks rallied for much of 2025, but some stock-picking misses also weighed it down. Sandisk, which entered the benchmark in June 2025, then returned a cumulative 4,516% through September 2026, was a notable omission. The fund gained a cumulative 25.4% during the period, more than 5 percentage points behind the benchmark but ahead of the average category peer.

The strategy’s capable team is well-equipped to parse the vast global small-cap universe, so it remains a strong option in an asset class with limited passive alternatives.

The strategy's divide-and-conquer approach earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.

The firm manages the strategy’s large asset base by splitting it between its three equity subsidiaries. Seventeen named managers use their own investment styles to independently run sleeves of the portfolio, drawing on the work of roughly 150 analysts. The fund also includes a research sleeve from each subsidiary’s analysts. The managers’ portfolios range in size from about USD 1.8 billion to USD 4.5 billion. Those are reasonable levels given the large global small-cap universe, and the team pays close attention to the size of its ownership stake in each company, trimming as necessary so as not to breach established thresholds.

The fund strives to have 80% of assets in the market-cap range of the MSCI All Country World Small Index, but managers can hold onto picks even as they grow beyond that range. The team recently relaxed their hard market-cap limits on purchases to take a more index-relative approach.

Capital Group’s multimanager approach lets the managers lean into their own styles. Managers have considerable leeway to run their sleeve as they see fit, whether they invest in a concentrated set of their best ideas or hold many names at lower weights. The combination of separately run sleeves enhances diversification and delivers an overall portfolio with a consistent growth tilt relative to the benchmark, though lead PIO Julian Abdey is interested in reducing that bias somewhat. Rather than tell managers or analysts how to invest, Abdey has encouraged the group to dig into areas where the strategy has been historically light, like utilities and real estate, to uncover new ideas.

The portfolio holds 800 stocks with roughly 10% of assets in its top 10 holdings. The team has decreased the number of holdings from about 900 while reducing the research portfolio allocation to just more than 30% of assets. The strategy’s average market cap tends to exceed that of the MSCI ACWI Small Cap index’s as managers hold onto their winners.

The portfolio tends to have a sizable allocation to emerging markets. Since 2009, about 10% to 25% of the portfolio has been in emerging markets (including South Korea and Taiwan), versus about 5% to 14% for the index. Developed-markets exposure leans toward the US, though the portfolio is usually underweight relative to the index. The fund’s US exposure has varied from 26% to 60%, with the allocation as of June 2026 sitting at 52%, about 3 percentage points below the index’s.

The fund invests across all 11 sectors, and weights usually deviate significantly from the benchmark. Industrials and information technology dominated the portfolio in June 2026 as the team bought into opportunities around the global artificial intelligence buildout. The portfolio’s 29% industrial allocation was nearly 10 percentage points above the index, while its 21% technology stake was 4 percentage points higher. The fund has long been relatively light on real estate, energy, and utilities.

This strategy's experienced management team and unrivaled resources in the category merit a High People rating.

It’s all hands on deck for American Funds’ parent, Capital Group, to manage this global small-cap behemoth. The firm splits the fund's nearly USD 90 billion asset base, the global small/mid-stock category’s largest, between its three equity subsidiaries: Capital World Investors, Capital Research Global Investors, and Capital International Investors.

Julian Abdey has been the strategy’s lead PIO, in charge of allocating capital across the independently run sleeves, since July 2024. Abdey also leads Capital World Investors' outfit of Brady Enright, Peter Gusev, Leo Hee, Taylor Hinshaw, Roz Hongsaranagon, Andraz Razen, Arun Swaminathan, and Thatcher Thompson. Brad Freer leads Capital Research Global Investors' team of Britain Ezzes, Shlok Melwani, Aidan O’Connell, and Piyada Phanaphat. Dimitrije Mitrinovic oversees Capital International Investors' Peter Eliot and Samir Parekh. The managers each oversee a separate sleeve of the portfolio, with Abdey, Freer, and Mitrinovic ensuring their investing styles complement one another. The managers have a median of 27 years of investment industry experience.

The team leverages more than 150 analysts to tackle the global small-cap universe and contribute to the fund’s sizable research portfolio. This includes small-cap generalists who focus solely on this strategy and several local country specialists to help add additional color in countries such as China and India.

Capital Group stands out from the pack as it enhances capabilities around strong core competencies. It earns a High Parent rating.

Since 1931, Capital Group, parent of American Funds, has thoughtfully built out capabilities to become one of the world’s largest asset managers, managing more than USD 3 trillion dollars. Building on the success of its long-term-oriented, multiple-manager system for global equities, the firm has developed robust fixed-income and multi-asset units, each managing more than USD 500 billion. In January 2026, as part of its periodic review of its now five distinct research organizations, Capital Group implemented changes to its equity investment subsidiaries. This exercise resulted in most equity strategies having at least one portfolio manager change, but according to the firm, it better balances each of Capital Group’s three equity groups in terms of investment breadth and helps the firm better align leadership opportunities across the groups. These kinds of shifts have occurred before, with the last coming in 2018.

Capital Group has also turned its attention to some modern opportunities. To address public/private market convergence trends, it launched in April 2025 two semiliquid funds with private market giant KKR. In keeping with its signature portfolio management approach, it splits those funds into multiple sleeves, which are managed independently by distinct managers at each firm. Capital Group plans to deepen this relationship with target-date and model portfolios, as well as public/private equity funds. On the other end of the spectrum, although the firm is firmly dedicated to active management, it has also acknowledged investor preference for passive investing and has thus partnered with indexing stalwarts Vanguard, BlackRock, and Schwab on active/passive models. Capital Group’s proven investment prowess, strong reputation among investors, and scale mean it can be selective with its partnerships.

In addressing another recent trend, since early 2022, the firm has launched more than 25 active exchange-traded funds globally, most of which are distinct, but several are similar to some of its legacy American Funds mutual funds. Unlike some of its peers, though, it has not filed for SEC exemptive relief to offer ETFs as a share class.

That’s a lot of change for such a storied and sizable firm, but Capital Group has a long history of serving investors well.

The strategy’s long-term record is still solid, though its edge has narrowed following bouts of underperformance since 2021. Through September 2026, the R6 shares outpaced the MSCI ACWI Small Cap benchmark and global small/mid-stock category peers over the past 15 and 20 years but lagged the index in the trailing one-, three-, and five-year periods. It still placed in the top half of the category, however.

The fund’s 14% return for the 12 months through September 2026 put it in the top third of the category. AI infrastructure beneficiaries like Lumentum, Global Unichip, and Comfort Systems were among the largest contributors to performance. Sectors where the strategy has historically been light relative to the index, like consumer discretionary and real estate, were among the largest detractors.

The fund has typically lagged when value stocks beat growth. Since 2005, it trailed the index in 10 of 11 periods of at least multiple months when international value stocks outpaced growth. That includes trailing by 6 percentage points from June 2025 through February 2026. It also fell 11 percentage points more than the index in 2022. Yet, investors who have held on through these bouts of underperformance have done well. From longest-serving manager Brady Enright’s November 2004 start through September 2026, the fund gained an annualized 9.1%. That was narrowly ahead of the index and 1.8 percentage points ahead of the average category peer. It outperformed the category in 92% of rolling five-year periods and the index 69% of the time.

American Funds SMALLCAP World R-6's Prospectus Adjusted Expense Ratio is 0.65% per year. It places it in the cheapest quintile of the Morningstar US Fund Global Small/Mid Stock Category, where the median fee is 1.11% per year. This cost positioning translates into a Medalist Rating Price Score of 2.17, which reflects its relative price positioning within the category. The Price Score ranges from -2.50 (most expensive) to +2.50 (cheapest), with higher scores indicating better cost competitiveness.