2024 – A year in value

When I looked at the performance of the Value Rank at the end of last year, there was some good news. Unlike in 2022, the cheapest decile of stocks had beaten the FTSE All-Share in 2023. However, in 2024, the top-ranked Value shares have just kept pace with the broader indices:

The reality is that it has been another year of struggling small caps, particularly those listed on AIM:

Because the Value Rank deciles are equal-weighed, they tend to underperform market-cap-weighted indices during periods when the largest companies outperform. In 2024, the tax changes in the recent budget have had the biggest impact on AIM stocks. The attractions of companies that are cheap on earnings, cash flow or assets simply haven't been able to overcome the outflows from this particular part of the market.
2024 has been a much better year for investors who bought the cheapest decile of large cap stocks. These outperformed the market by almost 30% YTD:

This will be little salve for those of us who feel we can get a better edge in smaller companies. However,...