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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights SPY, IWM, QQQS, DEEP, SGDJ and CALF

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 28, 2025 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. ETFs recently featured in the blog include: SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY - Free Report) , iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM - Free Report) , Invesco NASDAQ Future Gen 200 ETF (QQQS - Free Report) , Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF (DEEP - Free Report) , Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF (SGDJ - Free Report) and Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF (CALF - Free Report) .

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Are Small Caps Finally Ready to Take the Leap?

After a long period of underperformance, small-cap U.S. stocks may be staging a comeback. While it's too early to say for sure whether this is the start of a sustained rally or just an occasional rise, recent data shows encouraging signs for small-cap investors.

Recent Performance: Small Caps Rebound

The Russell 2000 index — a benchmark for small-cap stocks — started to gain momentum from July 22, 2025. While the large-cap fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust added 4.7% past month, the small-cap fund iShares Russell 2000 ETF advanced 4.6%, moving almost in line with the large caps. This surge suggests growing investor interest and possibly a shift in market sentiment toward smaller companies.

Looking at a three-month view, the Russell 2000 has climbed 18.58%, almost in line with the S&P 500's 18.18% gain. Such figures mark a notable change from the earlier trends, where small caps have struggled consistently.

Despite the recent outperformance, small caps are still trailing large caps for the year. As of now, large-cap stocks are up 8.7% this year compared to just 1.6% for small caps. Much of the early-year weakness in small caps came after President Trump announced higher tariffs in April, which hit smaller companies hard.

What Does the Earnings Picture Say?

For the small-cap S&P 600 index, we now have Q2 results from 62 index members. Total earnings for these companies are up 16.9% from the same period last year on 7.8% higher revenues, with 71% beating EPS estimates and an equal proportion beating revenue estimates.

The proportion of these 62 index members beating both EPS and revenue estimates, or the so-called "blended beats %," is 51.6%, as quoted on the Earnings Trends issued on July 23, 2025.

Note that, for the 117 large-cap S&P 500 companies that have already reported Q2 results, total earnings are up 8.3% from the same period last year on 5.3% higher revenues, with 87.2% beating EPS estimates and 80.3% beating revenue estimates.

Bottom Line

The above comparison shows that the small caps are catching up on the growth front, although still lagging large caps on beat ratios. However, the tide could be turning in favor of small-cap stocks, though it is too early to say. Investors should be watching closely to see this long-ailing segment.

ETFs in Focus

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few winning small-cap exchange-traded funds.

Invesco NASDAQ Future Gen 200 ETF– Up 2.2% past week

Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF– Up 3.9%

Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF– Up 3.1%

Pacer US Small Cap Cash Cows ETF – Up 1.1%

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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