Tag Archives: small caps
Still Quality by Design: A Deep Dive into the Recent Performance of the S&P SmallCap 600
Prior to the start of 2025, the S&P SmallCap 600® outperformed the Russell 2000—another prominent small-cap U.S. equity index—in 20 of the full calendar years to December 2024. However, the S&P SmallCap 600 has underperformed the Russell 2000 by 9% YTD, putting it on track to record its worst year of relative performance since its…
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Quality by Design: A Deep Dive into the S&P SmallCap 600
The S&P SmallCap 600® represents the U.S. small-cap equity market by tracking companies that meet specific liquidity and financial viability criteria. While both the S&P 600® and Russell 2000 target this segment, their performance has diverged significantly. Since 1994, the S&P 600—built on a rules-based methodology—has consistently outperformed the Russell 2000, delivering a 1.6% higher…
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Seeking Quality within Quality
Despite emerging geopolitical tensions, U.S. equities have staged a dramatic comeback over the past quarter, with the S&P 500® up 9% QTD through June 25, 2025, fueled by robust corporate earnings from Big Tech. Meanwhile, with the impending Russell reconstitution,1 the market’s mind has shifted toward smaller caps, which have had a more challenging time, with…
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The S&P/ASX Index for “Larger,” More Liquid Small Caps
What would you get if you carved out the 100 smallest companies in the S&P/ASX 200 into their own index? You’d have the S&P/ASX 200 Ex-S&P/ASX 100 Index. Alternatively, you’d have also segmented the largest 100 companies in the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries. Companies listed on the ASX are grouped into broad market, large-, mid- and…
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Examining Cash Flow in Small-Cap U.S. Equities
How does screening the S&P 600 for the top 100 companies based on free cash flow yield influence performance? S&P DJI’s Michael Mell takes a custom look at the Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows Index with Sean O’Hara, President of Pacer ETFs and Cameron Dawson, Chief Investment Officer at NewEdge Wealth.
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The S&P SmallCap 600 – A Sector-Led Bounce Back
For over 11 years, S&P Dow Jones Indices has been exploring the long-term, persistent outperformance of the S&P SmallCap 600® relative to the Russell 2000. As shown in Exhibit 1, the S&P 600TM has outperformed the Russell 2000 by 1.70% on an annualized basis from Dec. 31, 1994, to Sept. 30, 2021. The S&P 600…
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U.K. Small Caps: Mind the Gap!
A gap between the 12-month performances of the S&P United Kingdom SmallCap and S&P United Kingdom SmallCap Select Index hints at a “junk rally” in U.K. stocks, but the longer-term data suggests that those looking to participate in an ongoing recovery in the world’s fourth-largest economy might be wise to maintain a selective approach. As…
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2021, IIS, Index Construction, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, investability, liquidity, profitability, S&P United Kingdom, S&P United Kingdom BMI, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap Select, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap Select Index, Sherifa Issifu, size, smallcap, Smallcap Select, U.K., U.K. equities, United Kingdom
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- 2021, IIS, Index Construction, Index Investment Strategy, institutional investor, investability, liquidity, profitability, S&P United Kingdom, S&P United Kingdom BMI, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap Select, S&P United Kingdom SmallCap Select Index, Sherifa Issifu, size, smallcap, Smallcap Select, U.K., U.K. equities, United Kingdom
A Reversal, or Two
For many equity investors, the stand-out theme of last year was the reversal in the market’s initial response to, and recovery from, the COVID-19 pandemic: the dramatic price declines in March, the wild swings around the bottom as VIX® marked its highest closing level ever, and the just-as-dramatic recovery to new all-time highs by late…
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Dissecting Performance Characteristics of Growth Factors in Australian Small-Cap Equities
In our previous blog, we suggested growth factors with longer lookback periods may be more effective for constructing growth factor portfolios in Australian small-cap equities. In this blog, we examine the performance cyclicality, factor exposure, risk/return decomposition, and factor correlation for the long-term growth factor portfolios.1 From April 20, 2001, to June 30, 2020, the…
Profitability, Liquidity, and Investability: The Key Drivers of Long-Term Outperformance of S&P SmallCap 600® versus Russell 2000
The S&P 600TM has outperformed the Russell 2000 since its launch in 1994. From Dec. 31, 1994, to Aug. 30, 2020, the S&P SmallCap 600 had an annualized return of 11.77% (with an annualized volatility of 18.96%) versus the Russell 2000’s annualized return of 10.49% (with an annualized volatility of 19.70%). The historical performance divergence…
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