Russell: May Saw Strong Equity Growth Returns

June 1, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Growth stocks outpaced their value counterparts in May at every capitalization level, according to Russell data.

According to a Russell news release, May returns show the large-cap Russell 1000 Growth Index (4.84%) outpaced the Russell 1000 Value Index (2.41%), for example, for the first time since December and only the second time in the past 12 months.

“Growth stocks rallied somewhat in May but still lag behind value for the year,” said Paola Nealon, manager research analyst at Russell, in the news release. “We’ll see if a new trend develops, but growth investors did receive a little encouragement in May.”

Overall, each of Russell’s 22 US stock indices reflected a positive May performance, ranging from the Russell 2000 Growth Index (7.05%) to the Russell Top 200 Value Index (1.61%).   The broad market Russell 3000 Index reflected a 3.79% advance for the month as about 80% of the companies turned in a positive performance, the Russell data showed.

Nealon added that 60 technology companies in the Russell 3000 each advanced at least 20% for the month, including a 67.2% increase for NetScout Systems Inc.

May performance figures also show the small-cap Russell 2000 Index (6.55%) outperformed the large-cap Russell 1000 Index (3.54%) for the first time in six months. However, the index remains more than four percentage points behind the large-cap benchmark for the year (-4.92% to -0.30%), according to Russell.

«