All Star small caps: Our picks gained 58% in 2017

By Norm Rothery on December 10, 2017
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

A strong year for U.S. small caps, with only a few duds spoiling the party

Overview All-Star Stocks Full 500 Stocks Past Performance Methodology

Our small All Star stocks generated big gains since we last visited them in 2016. They climbed 58.1% on average and nearly all of them gained ground. More than half of them provided returns north of 50% and more than a dozen posted returns in excess of 100%. The period of plenty for the All-Star stocks spanned from February 11, 2016 to November 14, 2017. To put the overall returns into more familiar annual terms, a 58.1% gain over the period is equivalent to a 29.8% return on an annualized basis. The top performing All Star was MKS Instruments which shot up 230%. The firm makes equipment for the semiconductor business and is based in Andover, MA. Its shareholders benefited from a surge in earnings and the stock got a boost when it was recently inducted into the S&P MidCap 400 index. The second-best performer was Kadant which jumped 170%. The industrial company based in Westford, MA. makes machines for the paper and wood processing market. Its stock was propelled by revenue and earnings growth. A total of 13 All Stars posted gains of more than 100% since last time and 37 of the 71 managed gains of more than 50%. That’s pretty good even if we say so ourselves. But it wasn’t all roses. There were a total of two duds in the group that lost money. Seneca Foods of Marion, NY slipped 21% on uneven trading. Its packaged fruit and vegetable business suffered a little freezer burn due to earnings weakness. The worst showing came from heath care products distributor Aceto, which dropped 52%. While the company grew its revenues over the last two years, its earnings have declined each quarter (on a year-over-year basis) for more than a year. The poor earnings trend helps to explain its slumping stock. But the winners more than made up for the losers leading to a whopping average return of 58.1%. We would love to see similar returns in the future.

Last year’s All-Star performance

Rank	Name	Total Return
1	MKS Instruments Inc	229.79%
2	Kadant Inc	169.85%
3	KMG Chemicals Inc	160.34%
4	Pegasystems Inc	151.11%
5	Walker & Dunlop Inc	135.55%
6	KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp	130.93%
7	IXYS Corp	126.59%
8	Alamo Group Inc	126.34%
9	Employers Holdings Inc	115.35%
10	Viad Corp	110.86%
11	Sanderson Farms Inc	107.31%
12	Barnes Group Inc	105.94%
13	QAD Inc	104.22%
14	Greenbrier Cos Inc/The	84.12%
15	Universal Forest Products Inc	82.84%
16	Simpson Manufacturing Co Inc	79.29%
17	1st Source Corp	79.13%
18	Heartland Financial USA Inc	77.97%
19	Washington Federal Inc	75.82%
20	Independence Holding Co	73.68%
21	Chemical Financial Corp	72.03%
22	United Financial Bancorp Inc	71.31%
23	Hooker Furniture Corp	70.90%
24	Atwood Oceanics Inc	67.63%
25	Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc	66.76%
26	S&T Bancorp Inc	66.20%
27	AVX Corp	65.93%
28	TeleTech Holdings Inc	62.54%
29	Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc	62.28%
30	InnerWorkings Inc	62.15%
31	Korn/Ferry International	59.00%
32	Provident Financial Services Inc	54.04%
33	Interface Inc	53.61%
34	Brookline Bancorp Inc	53.26%
35	Aircastle Ltd	53.04%
36	Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc	52.75%
37	Superior Uniform Group Inc	50.73%
38	Infinity Property & Casualty Corp	45.96%
39	Innospec Inc	45.88%
40	Simmons First National Corp	45.77%
41	Banc of California Inc	44.82%
42	FBL Financial Group Inc	40.61%
43	Kaman Corp	40.39%
44	J&J Snack Foods Corp	35.69%
45	Werner Enterprises Inc	34.59%
46	Encore Wire Corp	34.12%
47	United Fire Group Inc	33.48%
48	Miller Industries Inc/TN	32.27%
49	Hope Bancorp Inc	32.24%
50	EMC Insurance Group Inc	29.25%
51	Ensign Group Inc/The	29.09%
52	Flexsteel Industries Inc	27.84%
53	International Speedway Corp	27.34%
54	Donegal Group Inc	26.75%
55	Ennis Inc	25.17%
56	State Auto Financial Corp	21.31%
57	Carriage Services Inc	20.08%
58	Navigant Consulting Inc	20.03%
59	Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc	19.08%
60	Movado Group Inc	19.04%
61	CSG Systems International Inc	18.99%
62	PC Connection Inc	17.22%
63	Weyco Group Inc	15.83%
64	Scholastic Corp	15.08%
65	Entercom Communications Corp	14.53%
66	Investment Technology Group Inc	10.08%
67	Village Super Market Inc	3.34%
68	PDL BioPharma Inc	0.90%
69	National Penn Bancshares Inc	0.28%
70	Seneca Foods Corp	-21.46%
71	Aceto Corp	-51.58%