One reason is concern about the strength of the global economy. “Generally, value has outperformed whenever there is anxiety about whether the economy can continue to grow,” he said.

Value stocks typically come from industries where investors and analysts see problems; that’s why the stocks are relatively cheap. The question is whether the problems are real or overblown, and whether future price gains are likely. Currently, banks and other financial institutions, and oil and gas companies, make up a large part of the value stock universe.

Judd Peters, one of the managers of the Hotchkis and Wiley Small Cap Diversified Value fund, sees promise in both sectors. Banks will become more profitable when longer-term interest rates rise, increasing revenue when banks lend money, he said. “We’re at an historically low moment in terms of long-term interest rates,” he said. One of the fund’s holdings is First Hawaiian Bank, the largest Hawaiian bank, which closed the first quarter at what Mr. Peters called a “very attractive” valuation of roughly 12 times current earnings.

Mr. Peters also says the valuations of many energy companies are unreasonably low because oil prices dropped as technological advances increased the supply of oil from shale. “Our view is production increases for U.S. shale producers cannot continue to grow fast enough to keep up with global demand growth,” he said. Mr. Peters said many shale producers have already exploited the best opportunities and are digging at “secondary sites that are more expensive.”

On the other hand, fund managers who favor growth investing can point to their recent performance records. Dan Davidowitz, for example, is manager of the Polen Growth fund, which returned an annualized 16.22 percent in the five years through March 29, according to Morningstar.

Mr. Davidowitz says he looks for companies that can increase revenue and earnings and beat the overall stock market. He is not dissuaded by high share prices, he says, because they “can be overcome with excellent earnings growth, especially where there is a big competitive advantage.”

Still, the high prices of growth stocks shouldn’t be disregarded, some analysts say.

“The gap between high-priced and low-priced stocks has been rising for many years,” said Paul Quinsee, the global head of equities at JP Morgan Asset Management. At this point, he said, the price-to-earnings premium for growth stocks is greater than it has been 94 percent of the time over the last 25 years.