Fund Evaluator:

Northern Small Cap Core I Overview

Northern Small Cap Core I (NSGRX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Small Blend fund. Northern Funds launched the fund in 1999.

The investment seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation; any income received is incidental to this objective. The fund will invest at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small capitalization companies. Small capitalization companies generally are considered to be those whose market capitalization is, at the time the fund makes an investment, within the range of the market capitalization of companies in the Russell 2000® Index. Many of the companies in which the fund invests retain their earnings to finance current and future growth. These companies generally pay little or no dividends.

About Northern Small Cap Core I (NSGRX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 1.59 years: Sridhar Kancharla (2024), Reed LeMar (2024), Jiemin Xu (2025). 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%. Northern Small Cap Core I has 1578 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 7.1% 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.

Northern Small Cap Core I is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Northern Small Cap Core I has 2.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 97.1%. There is 2.9% 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). Northern Small Cap Core I has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $181 million in total assets, which is below the $694 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.

NSGRX 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 Northern Small Cap Core I expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Small Blend category. Northern Small Cap Core I has an expense ratio of 0.52%, which is 50% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a A. 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. Northern Small Cap Core I has a portfolio turnover rate of 18%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 65% for the Small Blend category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Northern Small Cap Core I returned 5.6%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Small Blend category had an average return of 5.9%. 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.

Northern Small Cap Core I has a trailing yield of 0.56%, which is above the 0.41% 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.

Northern Small Cap Core I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 23.0%, 1.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 38.5% over the past year (grade of B), 17.8% over the past three years (grade of B) and 8.4% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 11.5% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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