Value Can Pop Without a Growth Drop
If Eeyore were a value investor, he would probably be among those who feel that a positive value premium can only come at the cost of a growth stock tumble. This view implies value stocks can post strong relative returns only because growth stocks underperformed, not because value delivered strong absolute performance. While growth underperformance was the case during July’s US value premium resurgence, this has not been the norm for the value premium historically.1
Since 1927, US value stocks outperformed US growth stocks in 58 out of 97 calendar years. During positive value premium years, growth stocks returned an average of 10.25% compared to their average across all years of 11.86%—lower, but not exactly a tank job. Only in 17 out of 58 positive value premium years was growth’s return negative. On the other hand, value’s average return in positive value premium years, 25.08%, markedly exceeded its long-run average return, 15.93%.
Exhibit 1
Average Annual Returns for US Value and Growth
1927–2023
Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Research Index, respectively. Data provided by Fama/French. The Fama/French indices represent academic concepts that may be used in portfolio construction and are not available for direct investment or for use as a benchmark. Index returns are not representative of actual portfolios and do not reflect costs and fees associated with an actual investment. See “Index Descriptions” for descriptions of the Fama/French index data.
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