Small-cap stocks have historically outperformed their bigger siblings, and there are three reasons 2026 could see that trend reassert itself.Small-cap stocks, or publicly traded companies valued anywhere from $300 million to $2 billion, lagged the broader markets in 2025. The Russell 2000, which tracks the performance of 2,000 small-cap stocks, returned 12% over the last year compared to the S&P 500's 17% rise. While not a huge gap, the underperformance is part of an ongoing 15-year streak of small caps tra ...