Fund Evaluator:

Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A Overview

Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A (SPSAX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Value fund. Sterling Capital Funds launched the fund in 2010.

The investment seeks maximum long-term total return, by investing primarily in equity securities of small capitalization companies. Under normal circumstances, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets plus borrowings for investment purposes in the equity securities of small capitalization companies. Small capitalization companies are defined as companies with market capitalizations within the range of those companies in the Bloomberg U.S. 2000® Index at the time of purchase.

About Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A (SPSAX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 13.17 years: Robert Bridges (2013), Robert Weller (2013). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has 251 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 9.2% 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.

Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has 2.8% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.2%. There is 2.8% 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). Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has 1.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $7 million in total assets, which is below the $417 million average for the Small Value 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.

SPSAX 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 Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Small Value category. Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has an expense ratio of 1.09%, which is 7% 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. Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has a portfolio turnover rate of 89%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 128% for the Small Value category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A returned 2.1%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Small Value category had an average return of -0.4%. 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.

Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A has a trailing yield of 1.11%, which is above the 0.77% 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.

Sterling Capital Behav Sm Cp Val Eq A Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 24.0%, 3.9 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 37.3% over the past year (grade of B), 16.7% over the past three years (grade of A) and 11.3% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 10.4% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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