Portfolio Constituency Rules and the Value Premium in the Small-Cap Space

24 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2014

See all articles by Kenneth E. Scislaw

Kenneth E. Scislaw

Drexel University Lebow College of Business

David G. McMillan

University of Stirling

Date Written: February 12, 2014

Abstract

Market-based value style equity portfolios do not systematically outperform market-based growth style equity portfolios, despite considerable academic research that suggests that they should. This is an unresolved puzzle in the long lineage of work on this topic. We ask whether portfolio constituency rules employed by active growth and value equity investment managers might explain this puzzle. We find that restrictive constituency rules that omit the smallest, most illiquid stocks improve the performance of both value and growth stock portfolios. However, we find the impact of constituency rule restrictions on portfolio returns to be asymmetric with respect to value and growth in the small-cap investment space. Growth portfolios benefit from these changes more than value portfolios. Consistent with prior research, we find that value and growth style portfolios constructed from more liquid equities to be void of a statistically significant value-minus-growth return premium. We suggest these results might go a long way in explaining why market-based growth fund returns generally equal those of their value fund counterparts over time.

Keywords: Value premium, value stocks, growth stocks, equity style

JEL Classification: G11

Suggested Citation

Scislaw, Kenneth E. and McMillan, David G., Portfolio Constituency Rules and the Value Premium in the Small-Cap Space (February 12, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2394711 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2394711

Kenneth E. Scislaw (Contact Author)

Drexel University Lebow College of Business ( email )

LeBow College of Business
Center for Graduate Studies
Sacramento, CA 95814
United States

David G. McMillan

University of Stirling ( email )

Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA
United Kingdom

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