Royce Small-Cap Trust Trades at 7.5% Discount with 42% One-Year NAV Gain
As of April 30, Royce Small-Cap Trust holds $2.45B in assets with NAV of $19.90 and a market price of $18.40, trading at a 7.5% discount. The fund’s one-year NAV return stands at 42.25% while average portfolio P/E and P/B ratios are 19.7x and 2.6x respectively.
1. Fund Overview
Royce Small-Cap Trust is the oldest and largest small-cap closed-end fund with net assets of $2.45B and average weekly trading volume of 885,839 shares. Its investment adviser brings over 50 years of small- and micro-cap experience, and shares traded at NAV $19.90 versus market price $18.40 on April 30.
2. Performance Metrics
As of April 30, the fund delivered a one-month NAV return of 10.01%, year-to-date NAV return of 14.58% and one-year NAV return of 42.25%; market price returns were 10.84%, 16.40% YTD and 44.16% one-year. Three-, five- and ten-year annualized NAV returns stand at 19.82%, 7.79% and 12.57% respectively.
3. Portfolio Diagnostics
The portfolio’s geometric average market cap is $3.73B with a harmonic average P/E ratio of 19.7x and P/B ratio of 2.6x, excluding 15% of holdings with zero or negative earnings. The fund primarily invests in small- and micro-cap equities, with occasional foreign securities exposure adding diversification risks.
4. Portfolio Composition
Top 10 holdings account for roughly 12% of net assets, led by IES Holdings at 3.2% and Arcosa at 1.2%. Sector allocations are 27.1% Industrials, 19.6% Financials, 14.4% Information Technology, 9.5% Consumer Discretionary and 8.6% Health Care.