How to Find the Best Small-Cap Stocks to Buy

Wall Street's best small-cap stocks to buy include biotech, real estate and industrials names.

best small cap stocks
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The second half of 2024 could be much more favorable for stockpickers looking for the best small-cap stocks to buy. 

That might sound counterintuitive after the way small caps performed through the first half of the year. After all, small caps as an asset class have been a dud. They went nowhere as mega-cap stocks pushed the broader market to record highs seemingly every other day.

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Wall Street's top-rated small-cap stocks
Company (Ticker)SectorAnalysts' Consensus Recommendation ScoreAnalysts' Consensus Recommendation
BrightSpring Health Services (BTSG)Healthcare 1.17Strong Buy
Parsons (PSN)Industrials1,18Strong Buy
Immunovant (IMVT)Biotechnology1.27Strong Buy
Enovix (ENVX)Industrials1.31Strong Buy
Insmed (INSM)Biotechnology1.31Strong Buy
Rocket Pharmaceuticals (RCKT)Biotechnology1.33Strong Buy
Arcellx (ACLX)Biotechnology1.35Strong Buy
Kura Oncology (KURA)Biotechnology1.36Strong Buy
Essential Properties Realty Trust (EPRT)Real Estate1.36Strong Buy
Axsome Therapeutics (AXSM)Pharmaceuticals1.38Strong Buy

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Dan Burrows
Senior Investing Writer, Kiplinger.com

Dan Burrows is Kiplinger's senior investing writer, having joined the august publication full time in 2016.

A long-time financial journalist, Dan is a veteran of SmartMoney, MarketWatch, CBS MoneyWatch, InvestorPlace and DailyFinance. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Consumer Reports, Senior Executive and Boston magazine, and his stories have appeared in the New York Daily News, the San Jose Mercury News and Investor's Business Daily, among other publications. As a senior writer at AOL's DailyFinance, Dan reported market news from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a weekly video segment on equities.

Once upon a time – before his days as a financial reporter and assistant financial editor at legendary fashion trade paper Women's Wear Daily – Dan worked for Spy magazine, scribbled away at Time Inc. and contributed to Maxim magazine back when lad mags were a thing. He's also written for Esquire magazine's Dubious Achievements Awards.

In his current role at Kiplinger, Dan writes about equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, funds, macroeconomics, demographics, real estate, cost of living indexes and more.

Dan holds a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College and a master's degree from Columbia University.

Disclosure: Dan does not trade stocks or other securities. Rather, he dollar-cost averages into cheap funds and index funds and holds them forever in tax-advantaged accounts.