Value stocks have soared over growth stocks by 25% in the last year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that all who applied a value investing strategy benefitted equally, contends an article from Northern Trust. Though value is still very appealing, the benefits depend on how well-designed your approach to value investing is.

One trend that may be tripping up investors in their value strategy is tracking error. A big tracking error could indicate that an investment manager’s portfolio veers widely away from a benchmark, meaning there’s a deep level of active investing. That could lead investors to believe that equals outperformance and better returns. But in reality, a greater tracking error in value doesn’t mean a better performance, and in fact the last year has seen the opposite relationship develop, the article contends. Meanwhile, persistent sector biases designed to up the level of active risk have actually decreased value returns, particularly in the tech sector.

Value stocks are also being dragged down by a failure to factor in the effect that the low interest rate era had on the stock market. Now, as rising interest rates have more of an effect than ever on value stocks, returns are being impacted. And many portfolios that have a large tracking error haven’t yet adjusted to this sensitivity to rate exposure, the article maintains.

Still, value likely has a “long runway” but intrinsic to a value strategy’s success will be making highly selective security choices and constructing your portfolio in a way that is diversified and maintains sector neutrality in order to maximize the value premium, the article concludes.