US Smaller Companies Equity Fund

Capital at risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of current or future results and should not be the sole factor of consideration when selecting a product or strategy.

The listed funds are not an exhaustive list of funds available. Visit www.funds.troweprice.com to see the full range of funds offered by T. Rowe Price, including those that consider environmental and social characteristics as part of their investment process. For up to date information regarding any T. Rowe Price fund's investment strategy, please see the relevant fund KID and prospectus.

Overview

Strategy

Fund Summary

We utilise the full opportunity set from deep value to aggressive growth companies; out-of-favour companies with strong potential for improvement, or companies that may appear fully valued, but whose long-term growth potential is underappreciated. Identification of a value creation catalyst is key. The promotion of environmental and/or social characteristics is achieved through the fund's commitment to maintain at least 10% of the value of its portfolio invested in Sustainable Investments, as defined by the SFDR. Additionally, we apply a proprietary responsible screen (exclusion list). The manager is not constrained by the fund’s benchmark, which is used for performance comparison purposes only.

Performance - Net of Fees

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

30-Apr-2024 - Curt Organt, Co-Portfolio Manager,

US equities were broadly lower in April on signs that progress in reducing inflation had stalled, raising concerns that interest rates would remain higher for longer. At the portfolio level, information technology contributed the most to relative results due to stock selection. Shares of public sector-focused software company advanced on favourable quarterly results and increased full- year guidance given a faster-than-expected transition from on-premises software to cloud-based solutions. Our position in a unique analogue and mixed signal semiconductor business also added value following a recent industry conference highlighting the company’s ability to benefit as copper cables are now integrating more semiconductor content. Our holdings in consumer discretionary boosted returns further, as did our stock picks and overweight allocation in energy. Conversely, stock selection in industrials and business services detracted the most from relative results. Shares of a less-than-truckload company declined as in-line quarterly results failed to meet investors elevated expectations. A challenging industry backdrop has weighed on its shares and April trends suggest the recovery in freight is still moving slowly. Health care also hampered returns due to our stock picks.

30-Sep-2022 - Curt Organt, Portfolio Manager,

We do not make sector "bets," and sector weightings are formed as a residual of our bottom-up investment process. There were no major thematic changes to portfolio positioning in the quarter. We continued to invest in companies that we believe offer compelling long-term investment opportunities, and we trimmed exposure to names that performed strongly, were acquired, or offer limited upside, in our view. The market downturn created buying opportunities, particularly within more growth-oriented names. During the quarter, trading activity spanned the various sectors, including information technology, industrials and business services, consumer discretionary, and health care.

Information Technology

A number of the disruptive companies that are on the right side of change are featured in the sector. We remain sanguine on the sector as a whole. The portfolio has large allocations in the software; electronic equipment, instruments, and components; semiconductors; and IT services industries. We have been able to find many niche software providers that we believe have attractive growth opportunities and barriers to ward off their competition.

We purchased shares of semiconductor capital equipment company Onto Innovation. The company is a beneficiary of the rising cost and complexity of semiconductor manufacturing and occupies a strong position in process control, where it has been gaining market share from major competitors. We believe that the current valuation offers an attractive risk/reward profile even with the prospect of a recession looming.
We added a position in experience management company Qualtrics on share price weakness. We believe the capabilities of the company's analytics engine provide a superior user experience and that the category-defining Qualtrics will remain the dominant player in this niche segment given its first-mover advantage and scale.
We exited Avalara, a company that specializes in cloud-based software that calculates customers' sales tax obligations, and leading mortgage software provider Black Knight following the announcements of their pending acquisitions.
Weaker demand trends and tepid reaction to the company's recently announced acquisition of Sierra Wireless weighed on shares of fabless semiconductor company Semtech. We believe the acquisition pulls forward execution risk as the company transitions to a cloud services business model and exited the position.

Industrials and Business Services

The portfolio is overweight in the industrials and business services sector compared with the benchmark allocation due in particular to sizable positions in machinery, professional services, and road and rail. The sector tends to be cyclical, with strong surges during economic recovery. We have exposure to cyclical holdings to take advantage of economic recovery, but we also hold positions in more stalwart areas that allow steady and measured returns to provide a more balanced risk exposure.

IAA provides auction solutions for total loss, damaged, and low-value vehicles and operates in a duopolistic market segment. We believe this to be an attractively valued company in the midst of a turnaround. Improving fundamentals and share gain trends point to long-term performance potential, in our view. We bought shares.
We increased our holding in Stericycle, the largest provider of regulated medical waste disposal. The company is in the midst of a strategic shift, streamlining its portfolio to prioritize the core high-quality medical waste and paper disposal assets while shoring up the balance sheet.
FTI Consulting is a professional services firm that is well known for its bankruptcy and economic consulting practices. Higher demand lifted shares, and we trimmed on strength.

Consumer Discretionary

Despite our underweight allocation, we continue to believe the sector is ripe with select names that provide attractive business models and insulated growth opportunities.

We initiated a position in Steve Madden. The company occupies the top market share position in the U.S. women's fashion footwear market and has the opportunity to expand internationally where it is underpenetrated relative to competitors. We believe the long-term risk/reward potential is favorable at current valuations.
We increased the portfolio's position in Duolingo, an educational mobile app focused on language learning. The company offers a differentiated product that utilizes gaming mechanics to maintain motivation. We believe the company can access multiple growth levers, including the optimization of subscription pricing and the introduction of new product features. Longer term, the potential for category expansion and enterprise partnership provide additional upside.

Health Care

In health care, we have a sizable allocation to biotechnology, providers and services, and equipment and supplies names. The health care segment has been a sector of controversy over recent years amid reform legislation, attempts at repeal, and the uncertainty regarding its outcomes. We have focused on investments that we feel will benefit from the environment regardless of the end result by sticking to fundamentals and a diversified approach within biotechnology to mitigate risk.

West Pharmaceutical Services manufactures injectable drug delivery systems and components and provides contract manufacturing services to the pharmaceuticals industry. Shares have languished following lowered full-year guidance for 2022 due to foreign exchange headwinds and a slowdown in COVID-related revenues. We believe the company's risk/reward potential at current valuation is favorable and expect strengthening demand in the company's core business to offset COVID losses longer term. We opportunistically increased our position.
We eliminated Inari Medical, a medical device company focused on developing products to treat blood clots in the venous system, on valuation considerations.

31-Jan-2024 - Matt Mahon, Portfolio Manager,

Industrials and business services, information technology, health care, and financials remain the dominating sectors in the portfolio, all with greater than 10% of the equity allocation. During the month, we found opportunities across the various sectors, including materials. Within the space, we look for well-managed, solidly positioned companies with attractive balance sheets relative to the valuation being paid and prefer growing end markets.

30-Sep-2022 - Curt Organt, Portfolio Manager,

We purchased shares of semiconductor capital equipment company Onto Innovation. The company is a beneficiary of the rising cost and complexity of semiconductor manufacturing and occupies a strong position in process control, where it has been gaining market share from major competitors. We believe that the current valuation offers an attractive risk/reward profile even with the prospect of a recession looming.
We added a position in experience management company Qualtrics on share price weakness. We believe the capabilities of the company's analytics engine provide a superior user experience and that the category-defining Qualtrics will remain the dominant player in this niche segment given its first-mover advantage and scale.
We exited Avalara, a company that specializes in cloud-based software that calculates customers' sales tax obligations, and leading mortgage software provider Black Knight following the announcements of their pending acquisitions.
Weaker demand trends and tepid reaction to the company's recently announced acquisition of Sierra Wireless weighed on shares of fabless semiconductor company Semtech. We believe the acquisition pulls forward execution risk as the company transitions to a cloud services business model and exited the position.
IAA provides auction solutions for total loss, damaged, and low-value vehicles and operates in a duopolistic market segment. We believe this to be an attractively valued company in the midst of a turnaround. Improving fundamentals and share gain trends point to long-term performance potential, in our view. We bought shares.
We increased our holding in Stericycle, the largest provider of regulated medical waste disposal. The company is in the midst of a strategic shift, streamlining its portfolio to prioritize the core high-quality medical waste and paper disposal assets while shoring up the balance sheet.
FTI Consulting is a professional services firm that is well known for its bankruptcy and economic consulting practices. Higher demand lifted shares, and we trimmed on strength.
We initiated a position in Steve Madden. The company occupies the top market share position in the U.S. women's fashion footwear market and has the opportunity to expand internationally where it is underpenetrated relative to competitors. We believe the long-term risk/reward potential is favorable at current valuations.
We increased the portfolio's position in Duolingo, an educational mobile app focused on language learning. The company offers a differentiated product that utilizes gaming mechanics to maintain motivation. We believe the company can access multiple growth levers, including the optimization of subscription pricing and the introduction of new product features. Longer term, the potential for category expansion and enterprise partnership provide additional upside.
West Pharmaceutical Services manufactures injectable drug delivery systems and components and provides contract manufacturing services to the pharmaceuticals industry. Shares have languished following lowered full-year guidance for 2022 due to foreign exchange headwinds and a slowdown in COVID-related revenues. We believe the company's risk/reward potential at current valuation is favorable and expect strengthening demand in the company's core business to offset COVID losses longer term. We opportunistically increased our position.
We eliminated Inari Medical, a medical device company focused on developing products to treat blood clots in the venous system, on valuation considerations.

30-Sep-2022 - Curt Organt, Portfolio Manager,

Vulcan Materials is a construction materials producer in the U.S. Shares had been pressured by the suspension of activity at its Mexico quarry. Reset expectations and a focus on a favorable infrastructure spending backdrop in the U.S. may have revived investor sentiment. We maintain a favorable view of Vulcan Materials and its leading position in the attractive aggregates industry.
RPM International manufactures and sells coatings and sealants to consumer and industrial markets. The company's most recent earnings report, released at the end of July, came in modestly short of consensus expectation, but RPM was a relative outperformer within the industry given high raw materials prices. A positive forward outlook was also well received by investors. Toward period close, the company announced a new operational improvement initiative, MAP (Margin Achievement Plan) 2025, which provided an additional lift to shares. We believe the company can grow free cash flow and earnings through a downturn given margin expansion and prudent capital allocation.
Apple Hospitality is a real estate investment trust company that owns a portfolio of upscale hotels concentrated in industry-leading brands Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. Shares declined but outperformed the broader sector. Normalizing leisure and business travel trends supported solid quarterly results.
FirstService is a provider of residential real estate services. Shares of the company modestly declined but outperformed the broader sector. The company's in-line results demonstrated solid execution through macroeconomic headwinds that included labor shortages, supply chain disruption, and inflationary pressures. The fallout from Hurricane Ian will likely heighten activity in the company's restoration segment. We have a favorable long-term view of the company given its modest leverage, recurring revenue, and merger and acquisition potential.
Shares of software developer Manhattan Associates surged on impressive quarterly results, demonstrating solid execution in its transition to a software-as-a-service model. We believe the company has a significant runway for growth as its customer base invests in systems upgrades to stay relevant and meet client expectations.
Teleflex is a medical technology company that makes single-use medical devices used for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in critical care and surgery. Lowered guidance attributed to a slower-than-expected recovery in elective procedures, particularly its UroLift treatment for benign prostatic hypertrophy, has weighed on shares. The company's recent acquisition of Standard Bariatrics, a company known for its innovative stapling device used in gastric sleeve procedures, complements Teleflex's core business. An active merger and acquisition pipeline could further solidify the company's medical device footprint, in our view.
QuidelOrtho, a leading in vitro diagnostics company, was formed by the recent completion of the merger of Quidel and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. Shares declined as investors scrutinized the first quarterly results for the combined company. Concerns regarding integration challenges, along with questions about the durability of COVID-19 diagnostic names as we enter the recovery phase of the pandemic, likely weighed on sentiment. We have a favorable view of the acquisition and related synergies, along with the company's strong pipeline that has only been enhanced by its COVID-19 diagnostic tests.
Shares of Agiliti, a leading medical equipment rental, maintenance, and management company, pulled back on results that fell short of expectations. We view the current headwinds?a deferral in revenues associated with the government stockpile contract and lower systemic health care utilization?as transitory.
Integration costs and losses from recent divestitures weighed on Cable One. Industrywide headwinds, including rising interest rates, growing competition, and the possibility of increased regulation, also pressured the share price.

Indicative Benchmark Data Source: Russell. Frank Russell Company (“Russell”) is the source and owner of the Russell Index data contained or reflected in these materials and all trademarks and copyrights related thereto. Russell® is a registered trademark of Russell. Russell is not responsible for the formatting or configuration of this materials or for any inaccuracy in T. Rowe Price Associates’ presentation thereof.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

Source for performance: T. Rowe Price. Fund performance is calculated using the official NAV with dividends reinvested, if any. The value of an investment and any income from it can go down as well as up. Investors may get back less than the amount invested. It will be affected by changes in the exchange rate between the base currency of the fund and the subscription currency, if different. Sales charges (up to a maximum of 5% for the A Class), taxes and other locally applied costs have not been deducted and if applicable, they will reduce the performance figures.

Daily performance data is based on the latest available NAV.

The Funds are sub-funds of the T. Rowe Price Funds SICAV, a Luxembourg investment company with variable capital which is registered with Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier and which qualifies as an undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities (“UCITS”). Full details of the objectives, investment policies and risks are located in the prospectus which is available with the key investor information documents and/or key information document (KID) in English and in an official language of the jurisdictions in which the Funds are registered for public sale, together with the articles of incorporation and the annual and semi-annual reports (together “Fund Documents”). Any decision to invest should be made on the basis of the Fund Documents which are available free of charge from the local representative, local information/paying agent or from authorised distributors. They can also be found along with a summary of investor rights in English at www.troweprice.com. The Management Company reserves the right to terminate marketing arrangements.

Please note that the Fund typically has a risk of high volatility.

Hedged share classes (denoted by 'h') utilise investment techniques to mitigate currency risk between the underlying investment currency(ies) of the fund and the currency of the hedged share class. The costs of doing so will be borne by the share class and there is no guarantee that such hedging will be effective.

The specific securities identified and described in this website do not represent all of the securities purchased, sold, or recommended for the sub-fund and no assumptions should be made that the securities identified and discussed were or will be profitable.

Attribution Data: Analysis represents the total performance of the portfolio as calculated by the FactSet attribution model and is inclusive of other assets that that will not receive a classification assignment in the detailed structure shown. Returns will not match official T. Rowe Price performance because FactSet uses different exchange rate sources and does not capture intra-day trading. Performance for each security is obtained in the local currency and, if necessary, is converted to U.S. dollars using an exchange rate determined by an independent third party. Figures are shown with gross dividends reinvested.

Sources: Copyright © 2021 FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. MSCI/S&P GICS Sectors; Analysis by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. T. Rowe Price uses the MSCI/S&P Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) for sector and industry reporting. Each year, MSCI and S&P make changes to the GICS structure. The last change occurred on September 28, 2018. T. Rowe Price will adhere to all future updates to GICS for prospective reporting.

The Global Industry Classification Standard ("GICS") was developed by and is the exclusive property and a service mark of Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc, ("MSCI") and Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ("S&P") and is licensed for use by [Licensee]. Neither MSCI, S&P nor any third party involved in making or compiling the GICS or any GICS classifications makes any express or impIied warranties or representations with respect to such standard or classification (or the results to be obtained by the use thereof), and all such parties hereby expressly disclaim all warranties of originality, accuracy, completeness, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect to any or such standard or classification, Without limiting any or the foregoing, in no event shall MSCI, S&P, any of their affiliates or any third party involved in making or compiling the GICS or any GICS classifications have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

A full list of the currently issued Share Classes including Distributing, Hedged, and Accumulating Categories may be obtained, free of charge and upon request, from the registered office of the Company.

©2023 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Citywire Data Source: Citywire – where the fund manager is rated by Citywire, the rating is based on the manager’s 3-year risk adjusted performance. For further information on ratings methodology, please visit www.aboutcitywire.com.

Information Technology

Industrials and Business Services

Consumer Discretionary

Health Care

Risks

Typical Investor