How to Invest Small Cap Fund

What is small cap Fund?

The term small cap refers to stocks with a small market capitalization, between $300 million and $2 billion. Stocks with a market cap below $300 million are referred to as micro caps, and those below $50 million are called nano caps.

Small-cap stocks can trade on any exchange. However, the majority of them are found on the Nasdaq or the OTCBB. That should not be surprising, as those exchanges have more lenient listing requirements

Advantages of Small-Cap Investing

While small caps have well-known risks, they also offer significant benefits that many investors do not realize.

Growth Potential

Most successful large-cap companies started at one time as small businesses. Small-caps give the individual investor a chance to get in on the ground floor. These younger firms are bringing new products and services to the market or creating entirely new markets.

Because small-caps are just companies with low total values, they can grow in ways that are simply impossible for large companies. A large company, one with a market cap in the $1 trillion range, doesn't have the same potential to grow as a company with a $1 billion market cap. Amazon isn't going to be the next Amazon. At some point, the company can't keep growing so fast because it can't be bigger than the entire economy.

Individual small-cap stocks offer higher growth potential, and small-cap value index funds outperform the S&P 500 in the long run

Small caps also experience higher volatility, and individual small companies are more likely to go bankrupt than large firms.

The opportunities of small caps are best suited to investors who are willing to accept more risk in exchange for higher potential gains.

investing in a small-cap value index fund is actually much safer than buying any single large-cap stock. What is more, it is also likely to produce higher returns.

The primary advantage of investing in individual small-cap stocks is the significant upside growth potential that is unmatched by larger companies. Small-cap value index funds also offer a way for passive investors to boost returns.

Merger and acquisition activity provides another opportunity for small-cap investors. Small caps are acquired more frequently than larger companies. Large companies can enter new markets or gain intellectual property by buying smaller businesses. Acquisitive companies usually pay a premium to acquire growth firms, leading to profits as soon as a deal is announced publicly. Undervalued small companies can also make tempting takeover targets, especially when they are selling for below book value.

Disadvantage of small cap investing

Small-cap companies tend to have much smaller customer bases, so their prospects are more uncertain and often tied to a specific geographical area. As a result, many small-cap stocks are unable to survive through the rough parts of the business cycle.

investing in a small company carries more risk than investing in a blue-chip stock. Often, much of a small cap's valuation is based on its potential to grow. In order for this to happen, it must be able to scale its business model. That is where much of the risk comes in. Not many companies can replicate the expansion of U.S. retail giant Amazon.

Financial ratios and growth rates are widely published for large companies, but not for small ones. You must do much of the number-crunching yourself, which can be very tedious