Small-cap growth
Companies worth $300M to $2B growing sales and profits 20%+ with healthy returns on equity.
Small companies can double their size many times over; large ones cannot. Requiring both profit growth and a decent return on equity removes most of the cash-burning story stocks that dominate small-cap growth lists.
$10,000 in this list since 2016
Rebuilt every month from the data public at the time
- Per year
- +24.7%
- All stocks +9.4%, S&P 500 +13.8%
- Worst fall from a peak
- -40%
- All stocks -35%
- Months ahead of all stocks
- 57%
- 120 months tested
- Stocks held, on average
- 23
- Equal weights
- Past 12 months
- +29.1%
- All stocks +4.1%, S&P 500 +12.4%
- Volatility, per year
- 27%
- All stocks 22%
- Sharpe ratio
- 0.86
- All stocks 0.40; return over cash per unit of volatility
- Replaced each month
- 22%
- Share of the list that changes at a rebalance
Live since Oct 19, 2026. Holding the list as published, rebought at each month end: -0.2% against +2.1% for all stocks and +0.7% for the S&P 500, to Oct 30, 2026. Too short a period to read much into.
- Small-cap growth
- All US stocks, equal weight
- S&P 500 (price only)
Year by year
| Portfolio | 2016from Oct 31 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026to Oct 19 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This list | +15% | +29% | -32% | +26% | +59% | +53% | -17% | +18% | +43% | +84% | +13% |
| All US stocks | +12% | +19% |
22 stocks on the list today
As of the close on Oct 30, 2026; 0 joined and 1 left since Oct 29, 2026
| # | Company | Share price | 1D | Market cap | Rev. growth | NI growth | ROE | P/E | P/S | 1Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5.70 | −25.5% | $444M | +281% | +266% | 54.9% | – | 1.0× | −49.6% | |
| 2 |
More growth ideas
- CANSLIMWilliam O'Neil's growth leaders: accelerating earnings, new highs, and institutions buying.
- Breakout quarterJust reported: revenue up 20% and profit up 40% on the same quarter last year.
- Mega-cap growersCompanies worth over $50B that still grow revenue 10%+ a year with 15%+ return on equity.
- TurnaroundsFive flat or shrinking years, then a quarter with revenue up 25% and profit up 50%.
A list produced by rules, not a recommendation. Past results in the backtest don't predict future returns. How the backtests work.