5 Top Small Cap Stocks with Growth and Value

• (0:15) - Finding Value Stocks Among Small Cap With Growth: Stock Screener
• (6:10) - Tracey's Top Stock Picks For Your Watchlist
• (23:20) - Episode Roundup: ATRO, AVD, MATV, QUAD, SNCR

Welcome to Episode #362 of the Value Investor Podcast.

Every week, Tracey Ryniec, the editor of Zacks Value Investor portfolio, shares some of her top value investing tips and stock picks.

Large cap growth stocks are still making new highs, but what about the small caps? They are still lagging, especially small cap value. However, historically, small cap value stocks have been one of the best performing equity asset classes.

Maybe it's time to take a look at some top small cap stocks that are also on sale?

Screening for Small Cap Stocks with Growth and Value

If you're going to buy small cap value stocks, why not also get some growth along with it? It's a rare combination but also a powerful one.

Zacks has the perfect premium screen for this. It screens for stocks with a market cap below $1 billion which have last closed above $5.

It looks for a growth rate above 20% and, for value, it screens for stocks with a price-to-sales ratio under 1.0. A P/S ratio under 1.0 usually means a company is undervalued.

Additionally, adding a top Zacks Rank of Buy or Strong Buy should give you stocks where analysts have been revising their earnings estimates higher for this year.

This screen returned 11 small cap stocks.

5 Top Small Cap Stocks with Growth and Value

1.       Astronics Corp. ATRO

Astronics serves the world's defense, aerospace and other mission critical industries. It has a market cap of $607 million.

Shares of Astronics are up 35.8% in the last year, easily topping that of the Russell 2000 small cap index the IWM, which is up 16.6% during the same time. Astronics is still cheap with a P/S ratio of 0.9.

Should Astronics be on your small cap short list?

2.       American Vanguard Corp. AVD

American Vanguard is a diversified specialty and agricultural products company that manufactures solutions for crop protection and nutrition, turf and ornamentals management, and commercial and consumer pest control. It has a market cap of $311 million.

Shares of American Vanguard have sunk in the last year as the agriculture industry faced headwinds. It's down 44.3% over the last year. But American Vanguard is cheap with a P/S ratio of just 0.6 and a forward P/E of 15.7.

Should an agriculture small cap like American Vanguard be on your short list?

3.       Mativ Holdings, Inc. MATV

Mativ Holdings is a specialty materials company headquartered in Alpharetta, GA. It manufactures on 3 continents, however. Mativ Holdings has a market cap of $979 million.

Shares of Mativ Holdings are down 19% over the last year and recently traded near 5-year lows, down 53.5% during that time. It's cheap with a P/S ratio of just 0.4.

Is this a buying opportunity in Mativ Holdings?

4.       Quad/Graphics QUAD

Quad/Graphics is a global marketing experience company. It serves 2700 clients and has employees in 14 countries. Quad/Graphics has a market cap of $254 million.

Shares of Quad/Graphics are up 20.6% over the last year but over the 5-year period are down 58.2%. It's cheap with a forward P/E of 6.6. Quad/Graphics also pays a dividend which is rare for a small cap company.

Should Quad/Graphics be on your short list?

5.       Synchronoss Technologies, Inc. SNCR

Synchronoss Technologies is a pure play Cloud company with a market cap of $107 million. It is currently in a transition and is divesting of its Messaging and NetworkX businesses.

Shares of Synchronoss Technologies are up 28.7% in the last year but down 88% over the 5-year period. Earnings for Synchronoss are also expected to be negative in both 2024 and 2025. It's cheap with a P/S ratio of just 0.5.

Should Synchronoss Technologies be on your short list?

What Else Do You Need to Know About Small Cap Stocks with Both Growth and Value?

Tune into this week's podcast to find out.

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.