Investors looking for hidden gems should keep an eye on small-cap stocks because they’re frequently overlooked by Wall Street. Many opportunities exist in this part of the market, but it is also a high-risk, high-reward environment due to the lack of reliable analyst price targets.
Luckily for you, our mission at StockStory is to help you make money and avoid losses by sorting the winners from the losers. That said, here are three small-cap stocks to avoid and some other investments you should consider instead.
TPI Composites (TPIC)
Market Cap: $1.78 million
Founded in 1968, TPI Composites (NASDAQ: TPIC) manufactures composite wind turbine blades and provides related precision molding and assembly systems.
Why Should You Dump TPIC?
- Customers had second thoughts about committing to its offerings over the past two years as its billings averaged 11.5% declines
- Eroding returns on capital from an already low base indicate that management’s recent investments are destroying value
- Negative earnings profile makes it challenging to secure favorable financing terms from lenders
TPI Composites is trading at $0.12 per share, or 0.1x forward EV-to-EBITDA. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than TPIC.
Kyndryl (KD)
Market Cap: $7.35 billion
Born from IBM's managed infrastructure services business in a 2021 spinoff, Kyndryl (NYSE: KD) is the world's largest IT infrastructure services provider that designs, builds, and manages technology environments for enterprise customers.
Why Are We Cautious About KD?
- Annual sales declines of 4.6% for the past five years show its products and services struggled to connect with the market during this cycle
- Low free cash flow margin of 1.4% for the last five years gives it little breathing room, constraining its ability to self-fund growth or return capital to shareholders
- Negative returns on capital show that some of its growth strategies have backfired
Kyndryl’s stock price of $31.96 implies a valuation ratio of 11.9x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with KD, check out our full research report (it’s free).
Farmer Mac (AGM)
Market Cap: $2.23 billion
Created by Congress in 1987 to build a bridge between Wall Street and rural America, Farmer Mac (NYSE: AGM) provides a secondary market for agricultural and rural loans, helping lenders increase their liquidity and lending capacity to serve rural America.
Why Does AGM Worry Us?
- Debt-to-equity ratio of 19.8× is concerningly high, indicating excessive leverage that could limit financial flexibility
At $209.57 per share, Farmer Mac trades at 11.6x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why AGM doesn’t pass our bar.
Stocks We Like More
Trump’s April 2025 tariff bombshell triggered a massive market selloff, but stocks have since staged an impressive recovery, leaving those who panic sold on the sidelines.
Take advantage of the rebound by checking out our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today
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