Park-Ohio Holdings Corp. PKOH

Value stocks typically trade at discounts to the broader market, offering patient investors the opportunity to buy businesses when they’re out of favor. The key risk, however, is that these stocks are usually cheap for a reason, and a low valuation can reflect underlying business challenges rather than a genuine bargain.

Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 (^RUT) can be a goldmine for investors looking beyond the usual large-cap names. But with less stability and fewer resources than their bigger counterparts, these companies face steeper challenges in scaling their businesses.