The S&P 500 Index (SPX) just notched another year of double-digit gains, but scratch beneath the surface and the market tells a different story.Â
A handful of megacap tech stocks have driven most of the index's performance while small-cap stocks have languished, creating what multiple Wall Street strategists now see as one of 2026's most compelling opportunities: a rotation into beaten-down small-cap stocks that trade at valuations not seen in decades.
Two ETFs offer distinct approaches to capturing the potential comeback: the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) for broad-based exposure, including speculative names; and the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR) for a more quality-focused basket with stricter listing standards.
Can Small Caps Compete With Megacap Dominance?
The Magnificent Seven — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla — now represent roughly one-third of the S&P 500's total value. When a handful of artificial intelligence (AI) giants drive most of the market's gains, nearly everything else gets overlooked, and that's exactly what's happened to small caps.
Here's why that creates opportunity:
Small caps are trading at 1999 valuations. The Russell 2000 trades at 18 times earnings while the S&P 600 (which screens for profitable companies) trades at just 15.9 times. By comparison, the S&P 500 trades at 27 times. By price-to-sales and price-to-book measures, small caps haven't been this cheap relative to large caps since 1999 — right before they began a multi-year run of outperformance.
Fed rate cuts affect small caps faster. Smaller companies tend to borrow from banks with short-term loans, while large companies have the ability to issue bonds with much longer durations (6+ years). That means when the Fed cuts rates — like its three consecutive cuts in 2025 — small companies feel the benefit immediately through lower borrowing costs. Large caps take years to refinance at better rates.
Merrill Lynch has noted that small caps historically outperform in the one, three, six, 12, and 24 months following Fed rate cuts, and the firm's head of portfolio strategy Marci McGregor points out that this pattern has held since 1990.
Earnings are set to grow faster in 2026. Bank of America forecasts small-cap earnings will grow 17% in 2026 versus 14% for large caps. This means small companies are expected to increase their profits faster than the megacaps that have dominated recent years, driven by what BofA calls a "long-awaited profits rebound" and by rate cuts, along with investors rotating out of expensive tech stocks.
Put simply: If small caps grow earnings by 17% while trading at 16-18 times earnings, and megacaps grow earnings by 14% while trading at 27 times earnings, small caps offer better value for every dollar of profit growth.
JPMorgan's Eduardo Lecubarri sums up the opportunity: "We are at the gates of the best stockpicking era we have seen in our lifetime," he writes, adding that he's "convinced" 2026 is the year to overweight small-cap stocks, with the "strongest case for the smaller names in the U.S."
How to Trade the Russell 2000 ETF
The Russell 2000 Index provides the broadest exposure to small-cap stocks, tracking approximately 2,000 companies with market capitalizations typically ranging from $300 million to $2 billion. This breadth comes along with higher volatility since the index includes early-stage companies, unprofitable firms, and speculative names alongside established small-cap businesses.
Investors can access the Russell 2000 through ETFs like the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) or the Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF (VTWO), both of which aim to replicate the performance of the index with minimal tracking error and low expense ratios. The Russell 2000 outperformed the S&P 500 for four straight weeks as of mid-December — the longest such streak in two years — and the index recently returned to record highs despite lagging large caps for most of 2025.
The case for RUT exposure hinges on betting that the broad small-cap universe will benefit from rate cuts, economic growth, and valuation reversion as investors rotate out of stretched megacaps. The risk is that the index's manufacturing sensitivity could weigh on performance if economic data weakens, and many Russell 2000 constituents aren't consistently profitable.
How to Trade the S&P 600 Small Cap ETF
The iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR) takes a more selective approach by tracking the S&P 600 Small Cap Index, which applies stricter listing standards, including profitability requirements and financial viability criteria. This smaller basket of around 600 companies trades at 15.9 times trailing earnings and 15.61 times estimated forward earnings — a substantial discount to both the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000.
IJR's quality screen filters out the riskiest speculative names, which typically results in lower volatility and more consistent returns relative to the broader Russell 2000.Â
The trade-off is that IJR may not capture the same explosive upside if high-risk small caps rally sharply, but for investors seeking exposure to undervalued small caps without taking on maximum volatility, the S&P 600's stricter standards offer a middle ground.
The Case for Small Caps in 2026
Small-cap stocks haven't outperformed the S&P 500 on a full-year basis since 2020, and they've now traded at relative valuations not seen since 1999 — just before they began a multi-year run of beating large caps. The combination of attractive valuations, Fed rate cuts, accelerating earnings growth, and potential M&A activity creates what strategists increasingly view as a compelling setup.
Whether investors choose the Russell 2000's broad exposure or the S&P 600's quality-focused approach, small caps offer something that's become rare in today's market: meaningful diversification away from megacap concentration and valuations that don't require perfection to deliver returns.Â
If you feel overexposed to the Magnificent 7, and want more diversified performance, 2026 might finally be the year small caps reclaim the spotlight.
On the date of publication, Justin Estes did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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