Transcat, Inc. TRNS

Growth boosts valuation multiples, but it doesn’t always last forever. Companies that cannot maintain it are often penalized with large declines in market value, a lesson ingrained in investors who lost money in tech stocks during 2022.

Small-cap stocks can be incredibly lucrative investments because their lack of analyst coverage leads to frequent mispricings. However, these businesses (and their stock prices) often stay small because their subscale operations make it harder to expand their competitive moats.

Transcat’s 21.9% return over the past six months has outpaced the S&P 500 by 5.7%, and its stock price has climbed to $88.69 per share. This was partly due to its solid quarterly results, and the performance may have investors wondering how to approach the situation.