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Ranger Investment Management
H.H. 'Hoot' Gibson's Ranger Investment Management runs a concentrated small-cap growth equity strategy from Dallas, targeting U.S.
Ranger Investment Management
Gibson established the firm in 2000 after a tenure at a predecessor small-cap growth shop, building Ranger on the premise that small-cap markets are structurally less efficient and reward rigorous, on-the-ground due diligence. The firm's founding cohort believed the number of publicly traded companies achieving sustained double-digit revenue growth had been shrinking for two decades — a constraint that makes stock selection, not sector allocation, the primary driver of alpha. Ranger operates out of Dallas, Texas. Strategy execution centers on U.S. small-cap growth equities with a target holding period measured in years, not quarters. The investment team screens for companies with durable competitive positions, high recurring revenue, and management teams with significant insider ownership. Exposure spans technology, healthcare, and industrial innovation; the portfolio has historically held names in enterprise software, life sciences tools, and specialty manufacturing. The team avoids macro bets and maintains a fully invested posture regardless of Fed policy cycles. Research trips routinely involve visits to corporate headquarters, supplier conferences, and trade shows to verify product claims before a position reaches portfolio weight. The firm's structure emphasizes institutional separate accounts alongside a publicly available mutual fund, the Ranger Small Cap Growth Fund. In recent years, the team has maintained a headcount in the mid-teens, with investment professionals averaging over 15 years of industry experience. The mutual fund vehicle, sub-advised by an established fund administrator, provides a transparent daily-priced track record for smaller institutional allocators who lack the minimums for a separate account mandate. As of early 2025, the fund complex continued to rank in the top quartile for its Morningstar peer group over the trailing five-year period (per Morningstar). Ranger's structural differentiator is its capacity discipline. The strategy has historically soft-closed to new investors when assets approach a level the team believes could impair its ability to build meaningful positions in sub-$2 billion market-cap companies. This willingness to prioritize returns over asset gathering — closing the fund and separate accounts to new capital in prior market cycles — distinguishes the firm from asset aggregators that grow until capacity constraints erode performance. The firm remains 100% employee-owned, meaning portfolio managers have no competing parent-company incentives to maximize fee revenue at the expense of compounding.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2000
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Dallas
Corporate office
Dallas, TX, United States
Principals
H. H. 'Hoot' Gibson
Founder and Managing Partner
John Rettig
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Ranger Investment Management's core investment approach?
Ranger employs a concentrated, bottom-up small-cap growth strategy focused on U.S. public equities with market capitalizations typically below $5 billion. The team limits the portfolio to between 30 and 45 holdings, allowing each position to have a meaningful impact on returns. Selection criteria emphasize high recurring revenue, clear competitive moats, and management teams with significant personal equity stakes.
Does Ranger manage a public mutual fund or only separate accounts?
Ranger manages both institutional separate accounts and a publicly available mutual fund, the Ranger Small Cap Growth Fund. The mutual fund provides a transparent, daily-priced track record for investors who may not meet the higher minimums required for a customized separate account. The same investment team and philosophy govern both vehicles.
Has the firm ever soft-closed its strategy to new investors?
Yes. Ranger has historically valued capacity discipline and has soft-closed its strategy to new investors in prior market cycles when asset growth threatened to limit the team's ability to build meaningful positions in its target market-cap range. This approach aligns with the firm's long-standing view that small-cap alpha generation requires the ability to invest opportunistically in sub-$2 billion companies.
Who leads the investment team at Ranger and what is their background?
H.H. 'Hoot' Gibson founded Ranger in 2000 and serves as Managing Partner. The investment team includes portfolio managers and analysts who average over 15 years of industry experience. The senior team has worked together through multiple market cycles, with partners like John Rettig sharing portfolio management responsibilities under a collaborative, research-driven structure.
How does Ranger differentiate itself from small-cap growth index funds?
Ranger runs a high-active-share portfolio that typically deviates significantly from the Russell 2000 Growth Index, the strategy's benchmark. The team avoids macro-driven sector rotation and instead builds positions only after conducting extensive primary research, including on-site management meetings, supplier interviews, and industry conference attendance. This bottom-up process seeks to exploit structural inefficiencies in small-cap markets rather than tracking factor exposures.
Does Ranger operate as a multi-family office or does it manage third-party institutional capital?
Ranger Investment Management operates as an institutional asset manager, not a family office. The firm manages capital on behalf of pension funds, endowments, foundations, and high-net-worth individuals through separate accounts and a commingled mutual fund. The firm remains 100% employee-owned and does not function as a single-family office vehicle for Gibson or any other principal.
What sectors does Ranger avoid or exclude from its portfolio?
Ranger avoids highly cyclical, capital-intensive industries where competitive advantages are difficult to sustain and recurring revenue models are rare. The team has historically been underweight or excluded commodity-driven energy, traditional heavy industrials, and speculative biotechnology platforms without clear revenue trajectories. The focus remains on companies with demonstrable recurring revenue streams and organic growth drivers.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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