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Investors with a high-risk appetite and an interest in growth and value investing may choose small-cap blend mutual funds to boost their portfolio. While blend funds, also known as "hybrid funds," aim for value appreciation by capital gains, small-cap funds have higher growth prospects than their large and medium counterparts. Blend funds provide significant exposure to both growth and value stocks, and owe their origin to a graphical representation of a fund's equity style box.

Funds investing the majority of their assets in securities of companies with a market capitalization below $2 billion are generally considered small-cap mutual funds. Although funds investing in small-cap stocks are believed to have more exposure to market volatility than large or medium ones, they are also expected to provide diversification across sectors and companies. Moreover, small-cap companies are believed to be less affected by a global downturn, thanks to less international exposure.

Below, we share with you three top-ranked small-cap blend mutual funds, namely Fidelity Series Small Cap Discovery Fund (FJACX - Free Report), Davenport Small Cap Focus Fund (DSCPX - Free Report), and Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund Investor Shares (VSTCX - Free Report). Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future.

Fidelity Series Small Cap Discovery Fund invests most of its net assets in small-cap companies with a market cap similar to the Russell 2000 Index or the S&P SmallCap 600 Index at the time of purchase. FJACX chooses to invest in growth or value stocks by using fundamental analysis of factors like financial condition, industry position, as well as market and economic conditions. The fund has returned 12.1% over the past three years.

As of October 2022, FJACX held 78 issues, with 3.4% of its assets invested in FirstCash Holdings.

Davenport Small Cap Focus Fund invests most of its assets in common stocks of small-cap companies, which its advisor believes have the potential for significant capital appreciation. DSCPX also invests in shares of registered investment companies that invest primarily in stocks of small-cap companies. The fund has returned 11.6% over the past three years.

DSCPX has an expense ratio of 0.89% compared with the category average of 1.03%.

Vanguard Strategic Small-Cap Equity Fund Investor Shares invests in small-cap domestic equity securities based on their return potential. VSTCX selects securities that offer a balance between strong growth prospects and reasonable valuations relative to their industry peers by using a quantitative process to evaluate all of the securities on the MSCI US Small Cap 1750 Index. The fund has returned 13% over the past three years.

Cesar Orosco has been one of the fund managers of VSTCX since 2021.

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