Institutional Investor reports: In January, value subfactors outperformed the U.S. market by an average of nearly 3 percent, “some of the highest outperformance [we’ve seen] on a monthly basis for factors,” according to the latest factor performance report by Investment Metrics. Meanwhile, only one growth subfactor — dividend growth — slightly beat the market in January.

Subfactors are alternative measurements of broader investing factors such as style (growth vs. value), size (large cap vs. small cap), and risk. Value subfactors, for example, might include book-to-price, earnings yield, and other measurements that help identify underpriced stocks, while growth subfactors can include metrics such as dividends, earnings, and sales.