Choosing a Fundamental Active Equity Strategy

As a portfolio manager at a mid-sized investment firm, you are evaluating various fundamental strategies for active equity investing. Your firm aims to outperform the benchmark index over the long term by selecting stocks based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.

One of your analysts suggests focusing on growth stocks with significant expected earnings growth, while another analyst advocates for a value-oriented approach, emphasizing stocks with low price-to-earnings ratios in relation to their historical averages. A third analyst proposes a mix of both strategies, targeting stocks that exhibit strong fundamentals but are also undervalued relative to their growth potential.

Given this context, which fundamental strategy is most likely to provide a consistent excess return while mitigating volatility compared to a pure growth or value strategy?