Editorial companion

What stands out

The single striking claim in the conversation is that small-cap value could serve as the "anti-artificial intelligence (AI) trade," offering returns that run opposite the megacap winners of the last market cycle. Fund managers explain why smaller companies trade at unusually low valuations, how concentrated small-cap portfolios can outperform when flows and sentiment shift, and why new or nimble funds sometimes beat large, established ones. That proposition matters because it frames small caps not as a niche bet but as a potential structural counterpart to the decade’s AI-led leadership.