Displaying items by tag: small caps

The conventional wisdom in markets has always been that large caps hold up better in periods of volatility, and small caps outpace in returns when markets start to recover. The reality, however, is far different. If you take a look at a series of turbulent periods of the last few decades, you can see a clear trend: midcaps actually perform better. They suffer similar losses during periods of volatility, but actually recover faster than both “domestically-focused” small caps and “mature” large caps. In periods of high volatility, midcaps have fallen by 41% on average, slightly less than large caps at 42.93% and small caps at 45.05%. In periods of recovery, it has taken midcaps only 304 days to recover versus 544 for large caps, and 432 for small caps.

The data highlights the significant outperformance of midcaps versus their peers. So how can investors best commit capital to midcaps? Take a look at State Street’s SPDR S&P MIDCAP 400 ETF.

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n.b. This is sponsored content and not FINSUM editorial.

Source: https://www.ssga.com/library-content/pdfs/etf/us/mid-caps-defy-conventional-wisdom.pdf

(New York)

Bank of America put out a very refreshing outlook today, reminding investors of an asset that has traditionally thrived in times of high inflation. And no, it isn’t gold or other commodities. That asset is…small caps. BAML says that small caps, and value stocks as well, have traditionally performed well in high inflation environments, such as in the 1960s. According to the firm, “Our US Regime Indicator has shifted to Mid-Cycle, a phase where inflation is typically strongest. In this phase, small caps and Value have typically outperformed large caps and Growth - further supported by the profits recovery and economic rebound we expect this year. Small caps and Value stocks were also some of the best-performing assets during the inflationary period of the late 60s”.

FINSUM: History aside, we cannot really agree about the idea that small caps will thrive. Relative to large caps, small caps have a higher employment cost base because their employees are more often in the US. Their supply chains are more domestic too. That means all their costs will rise alongside their revenue. Take a larger multinational—Apple for example—most of its manufacturing and supply chain costs are offshore, which means it can enjoy rising inflation-driven revenue, but take advantage of lower inflation rates in its cost base.

(New York)

The market has been on a tear recently, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at small caps. Despite the broader rise in indexes, the Russell 2000 has not hit a fresh high in a month. Investors are wondering why, and the reason is pretty clear: inflation fears. Small caps are not seen to have as much pricing power as their larger peers, so as input costs rise, they get hit with lower margins.

FINSUM: There is nice clear and succinct reason why small caps have been underperforming over the last month. The good news is that inflation fears are subsiding, which means small caps should rebound accordingly.

(New York)

Let’s be clear, value stocks have been doing great over the last six months as growth stocks have started to fizzle. Accordingly, a lot of the small cap value stocks you could have found at the end of last summer have already risen strongly. However, there are a number of them that still look great buys according to fund managers. Here are a few names to explore: Citizens Financial Group, a strong regional bank; United Community Banks, a quick-growing regional bank; Sunstone Hotel Investors, a REIT that owns hotel buildings and leases them to big hotel chains; Herc Holdings, a construction and earth-moving equipment rental company; Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corp, a timeshare operator; and Ultra Clean Holdings, which makes chemicals and equipment for the semiconductor industry.

FINSUM: A bounce back in leisure travel is quite an interesting play for us, so Sunstone and Marriott Vacations look interesting, but all of these are worth a deeper dive.

(New York)

Most investors had their eyes on growth, particularly in the rebound of the pandemic, but things are starting to look good for value stocks. Investors at Columbia Threadneedle Investments said that stimulus from the Fed and Government put investors' value metrics on pause, but as the economy continues to normalize and rates rise, value stocks will be the beneficiaries. Companies like Citizens Financial Group Inc., United Community Banks Inc., and Sunstone Hotel Investor Inc. are all small-cap value companies that Tugman of Columbia Thread Needle finds attractive. P/E ratios are better for small and mid-cap value stocks, and are trading at heavy discounts compared to the broad S&P.

FINSUM: As life returns to normal stocks might do the same, which would be a return of value investing and attractive price-to-earnings ratios.