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Many small-cap stocks have limited Wall Street coverage, giving savvy investors the chance to act before everyone else catches on. But the flip side is that these businesses have increased downside risk because they lack the scale and staying power of their larger competitors.

Industrials businesses quietly power the physical things we depend on, from cars and homes to e-commerce infrastructure. But they are at the whim of volatile macroeconomic factors that influence capital spending (like interest rates), and the market seems convinced that demand will slow. Due to this bearish outlook, the industry has tumbled by 1.8% over the past six months. This drawdown was discouraging since the S&P 500 returned 1.1%.

From commerce to culture, software is digitizing every aspect of our lives. The undeniable tailwinds fueling the industry have also led to strong returns for SaaS stocks lately as they’ve gained 7% over the past six months, outpacing the S&P 500’s 1.1% rise.

The low valuation multiples for value stocks provide a margin of safety that growth stocks rarely offer. However, the challenge lies in determining whether these cheap assets are genuinely undervalued or simply on sale due to their potentially deteriorating business models.

Mid-cap stocks have the best odds of scaling into $100 billion corporations thanks to their tested business models and large addressable markets. But the many opportunities in front of them attract significant competition, spanning from industry behemoths with seemingly infinite resources to small, nimble players with chips on their shoulders.

Personal health and wellness is one of the many secular tailwinds for healthcare companies. Despite the rosy long-term prospects, short-term headwinds such as COVID inventory destocking have harmed the industry’s returns - over the past six months, healthcare stocks have collectively shed 6.8%. This performance was disappointing since the S&P 500 climbed 1%.

Stocks that outperform the market usually share key traits such as rising sales, expanding margins, and increasing returns on capital. The select few that can do all three for many years are often the ones that make you life-changing money.