With the largest U.S. Small Cap Equity tracking ETF, IWM (iShares Russell 2000, Expense Ratio 0.28%) breaking out to new all-time highs, and topping $100 per share, it is apparent that small caps are taking leadership in terms of performance in this market, and are now handily outperforming the S&P 500 Index in both the trailing one year period as well as from a year to date standpoint.
The heaviest weighted equity components of IWM, and we have to de-emphasize the use of the word “heaviest” since the top weighted individual component only has a 0.27% weighting are the following companies: Costar Group Inc. (0.27%), Acuity Brands (0.25%), Commvault Systems (0.25%), Firstmerit Corporation (0.24%), and Prosperity Bancshares Inc. (0.24%).
These companies are not exactly readily familiar household names. [Small-Cap ETF Hits Fresh All-Time High]
As the name Russell 2000 Index implies, owners of IWM receive exposure to potentially 2,000 individual companies that are classified as “small-caps” based on their market capitalization. The average market capitalization of an index member is approximately $1.26 billion, and the median market cap around $528 million.
Of course, as stocks progress in terms of rising stock prices over time, a small-cap stock can potentially “graduate” from the small cap universe and move up to the “mid-caps,” and perhaps ultimately the true big leagues, the “large
caps.”
IWM does not have a problem with popularity, as the fund has been around since 2000 and trades an enormous 44.4 million shares on an average daily basis, and holds approximately $23.3 billion in assets under management currently.