Fund Evaluator:

Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 Overview

Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 (RLSMX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. Lazard launched the fund in 2020.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. Under normal circumstances, the Portfolio invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of small cap U.S. companies. The Portfolio may invest up to 20% of its assets in the securities of larger or smaller U.S. or non-U.S. companies.

About Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 (RLSMX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 8.18 years: Michael DeBernardis (2010), Martin Flood (2014), Scott Kolar (2023), Sean Gallagher (2023). 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%. Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has 74 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 22.1% 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.

Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has 3.4% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.0%. There is 3.4% 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). Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has 0.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $903 million in total assets, which is below 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.

RLSMX 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 Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has an expense ratio of 0.90%, which is 14% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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. Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has a portfolio turnover rate of 100%, 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, Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 returned -6.1%, which earned it a grade of F, 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.

Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 has a trailing yield of 0.55%, which is above the 0.42% category average. The fund normally distributes its income 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.

Lazard US Small Cap Equity Select R6 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 16.5%, 1.7 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 26.6% over the past year (grade of C), 10.4% over the past three years (grade of F) and 5.3% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 8.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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