Emerging Markets Small-Cap Equity: Time to Dip in?

Emerging markets small-cap equities are a distinct slice of the market, offering opportunities for certain investors, using the right methods. We believe that employing an active, quantitative investment process with robust information is an optimal approach to capitalizing on these opportunities. The world is changing. The emerging markets growth story over the last few decades has been a key narrative of the global economy. After a couple of years of declining growth as compared to developed economies, this trend is set to change in 2023 with growth in emerging markets re-accelerating. Investors routinely make allocations to developed markets small-capitalization companies, but often ignore their emerging markets counterparts, despite the potential return enhancement and diversification benefits. While there is much to like about emerging markets large-caps, the universe is now driven more so by global growth than economic growth in emerging markets, whereas small-cap names have greater exposure to domestic growth. The Active Quantitative Equity (AQE) team thinks it is time investors consider making an allocation to emerging markets small-cap stocks, an area of the market that we believe offers the most direct avenue to the emerging markets growth story.