Fund Evaluator:

Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst Overview

Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst (CZMSX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. Columbia Threadneedle launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund pursues its investment objective by allocating the fund's assets among different asset managers that use multiple investment styles to invest in equity securities. It invests at least 80% of its net assets (including the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities (including common stocks, preferred stocks and convertible securities) of companies that have market capitalizations in the range of the companies in the Russell 2000® Index at the time of purchase. The fund may invest up to 25% of its net assets in foreign investments.

About Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst (CZMSX)

There are 9 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.58 years: Bruce Jacobs (2022), Kenneth Levy (2022), Judd Peters (2019), Michael Stein (2023), Derek Johnston (2025), Ryan Thomes (2019), Robert Mitchell (2012), Phillip Hart (2023), Eytan Shapiro (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has 808 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 8.4% 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.

Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has 4.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 95.4%. There is 4.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has 0.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is above the $685 million average for the Small Blend 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.

CZMSX 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 Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has an expense ratio of 0.96%, which is 8% 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. Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has a portfolio turnover rate of 109%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 66% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst returned -2.2%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Small Blend category had an average return of -2.8%. 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.

Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst has a trailing yield of 0.57%, which is above the 0.42% 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.

Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 17.4%, 0.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 24.6% over the past year (grade of D), 9.6% over the past three years (grade of F) and 4.6% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 9.5% 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 Multi-Manager Small Cap Eq Strat Inst, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.