Fund Evaluator:

Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv Overview

Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv (BIASX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Growth fund. Brown Advisory Funds launched the fund in 1999.

The investment seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation by primarily investing in equity securities. Under normal conditions, the Adviser seeks to achieve the fund's investment objective by investing at least 80% of the value of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of small domestic companies. The fund invests primarily in companies the Adviser believes have above average growth prospects. Equity securities include domestic common and preferred stock, convertible debt securities, American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs"), real estate investment trusts ("REITs") and exchange traded funds ("ETFs").

About Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv (BIASX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 14.77 years: Christopher Berrier (2006), George Sakellaris (2017). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 1000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 Growth TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has 75 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 30.4% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has 4.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 93.6%. There is 4.3% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 1.0% (1.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has 1.2% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $255 million in total assets, which is below the $393 million average for the Small Growth category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

BIASX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Growth category. Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has an expense ratio of 1.11%, which is 5% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has a portfolio turnover rate of 30%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 79% for the Small Growth category.

Recently, in the month of October 2026, Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv returned 4.3%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Small Growth category had an average return of -0.7%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.05% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 17.1%, 8.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 17.2% over the past year (grade of A), 13.7% over the past three years (grade of D) and 1.5% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 9.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Brown Advisory Small-Cap Growth Inv, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.