We recently published a list of Deep Value Stocks ETFs: Top 10 Picks. In this article, we are going to take a look at where iShares Focused Value Factor ETF (NYSE:FOVL) stands against other deep value ETFs to invest in.
This year, growth stocks are largely overvalued, trading at massive premiums compared to the riotous tech bubble of 2021. This is why Morningstar suggests that investors should underweight growth stocks in their portfolios and focus on value stocks instead. As of March 24, 2025, the Morningstar US Market Index saw the highest losses in artificial intelligence stocks, while undervalued stocks gained. Value stocks are trading at an impressive 13% discount to fair value. Thus, Morningstar advises investors to pick up small-cap stocks, which are trading at an 18% discount to fair value, compared to large and mid-cap equities, which trade at the same discount as the broader market.
William C. Nygren, partner, portfolio manager, and chief investment officer at Harris Associates, believes that it is an attractive time to be a value investor in this day and age because of the large spread in valuations between a few tech giants that drive the broader market and everything else. It is a golden time for value investors because the market is so concentrated, which means that cheap stocks are spread all across the other industries, allowing a unique opportunity to put together an investment portfolio comprising low P/E stocks. According to Nygren, it’s not just bank and oil stocks that look cheap right now. Consumer durables, healthcare, and media companies are also attractively valued. Since a value investor focuses on buying stocks that the market isn’t favoring at the moment, they get a much lower price. A value investor has to brave the odds, step in when others waver, and patiently wait for the market to reprice so their portfolio can thrive.
Similarly, veteran value investor Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Asset Management acknowledges that while value stocks have underperformed compared to their growth counterparts over the last two decades, investors who keenly observe and play the market can certainly prevail and outperform the broader market. Greenblatt’s Gotham Asset Management has returned a positive spread for the last three years, and the value investor noted that for a couple of mega stocks to consistently outperform the broader market is rather “abnormal”, possibly hinting that the market will reset its course.
A view of the skyline from an electricity pylon, to show the ubiquity of the companies energy products.
