Large-cap funds are considered prudent choices for risk-averse investors when compared to their small and mid-cap counterparts. These funds have exposure to large-cap stocks, with a long-term performance history and offer more stability than mid or small caps. Companies with market capitalization of more than $10 billion are generally considered large cap. However, due to their significant international exposure, large-cap companies might be affected by a global downturn.

Meanwhile, investors looking for a bargain, i.e., stocks trading at a discount, are mostly interested in value funds, which pick stocks that tend to trade at a price lower than their fundamentals (i.e. earnings, book value, debt-equity) and pay out dividends. In the long run, value stocks are expected to outperform the growth ones across all asset classes and are less vulnerable to trending markets. However, investors interested in choosing value funds for yield should check the mutual fund yield as not all value funds comprise solely companies that primarily use their earnings to pay out dividends.

Below we share with you three top-ranked, large-cap value mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future.

Vanguard US Value Investor (VUVLX - Free Report) seeks growth of capital and income for the long run. VUVLX invests all of its assets in value companies having low price/earnings (P/E) ratios. The fund focuses on acquiring stocks of large and mid-cap companies having impressive growth potential and favorable valuations. Vanguard US Value Investor has one-year annualized returns of 10.2%.

Binbin Guo is one of the fund managers of VUVLX since 2016.

Principal LargeCap Value J (PVLJX - Free Report) invests the majority of its assets in equity securities of large-cap companies on the Russell 1000 Value Index. According to the index, large-cap companies are those whose market cap ranges between $1.1 billion and $489.0 billion. PVLJX seeks capital appreciation for the long run. Principal LargeCap Value J has returned 11.1% in the last one year.

As of September 2018, PVLJX held 74 issues, with 4.77% of its assets invested in Johnson Cisco Systems Inc.

JPMorgan Large Cap Value A (OLVAX - Free Report) seeks appreciation of capital. OLVAX invests a major portion of its assets in securities, including common stocks, preferred stocks, and debt instruments that can be converted to common stocks of large-cap companies. At the time of purchase, large-cap companies are defined as those that have market cap similar to those listed on the Russell 1000 Value Index. JPMorgan Large Cap Value A has returned 8.3% in the last one-year period.

OLVAX has an expense ratio of 0.93% as compared to the category average of 1.02%.