S&P Equity Picks T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Stock Fund Mutual Fund of the Month

NEW YORK, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard & Poor's Equity Research has picked as its Mutual Fund of the Month for September T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Stock Fund (OTCFX, $27.16 at the close of August 31, 2010), at which date carried S&P Equity Research's highest mutual fund ranking of five star.  Based on an evaluation of the fund's holdings, S&P classifies OTCFX as a Domestic Equity-Small Cap Core Fund, reflecting its blend of growth and value characteristics.  

T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Stock Fund is managed by Gregory McCrickard, supported by a team of experienced in-house small-cap focused analysts, and employs a bottom-up, low turnover investment approach.  Management looks for companies that, in its opinion, have financial strength and potential earnings catalysts such as new product introductions, management changes, or room for organic operating margin expansion.  To be included in the portfolio, a stock typically has a market cap below $2.5 billion, but positions will be held as the company's size increases as long as the fundamentals remain intact, according to McCrickard.  S&P Equity Research believes the fund is well diversified with more than 300 holdings at the end of June 2010 that have a mixture of growth and value characteristics.  There is exposure to all 10 GICS sectors but the largest weightings were in Industrials, Financials, and Information Technology.  

"In seeking out this month's Focus Fund, we searched for S&P five-star domestic small-cap funds that scored positively for performance analytics, risk considerations, and cost factors," said Todd Rosenbluth, S&P Mutual Fund Analyst.  "We also looked for funds that outperformed both in 2009 and thus far in 2010."

To view a video of Mr. Rosenbluth discussing OTCFX, please paste the following link into your browser.  

http://link.delvenetworks.com/media/?mediaId=f9682020f03149e28eb679cd0921c2c5&width=480&height=411&playerForm=DelvePlayer

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NOTE:  The fund rankings in this release -- from five star (highest) to one star (lowest) -- are quantitatively derived from performance, holdings, risk, and expense analysis.  S&P Equity Research's stock rankings or STARS -- using a scale of 5-STARS (Strong Buy) to 1-STARS (Strong Sell) -- are based on S&P equity analysts' qualitative and fundamentally driven outlooks for stocks over the next twelve months.  S&P's views on mutual funds are constantly re-evaluated.  Please refer to our most recent publication on this fund to see our current view.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security or other financial instrument.  Securities, financial instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.  

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