May 04, 2026
Don’t Forget About Us: Why Small Caps Deserve a Second Look
After years of mega‑cap dominance, small‑cap equities have quietly begun to reassert themselves. While performance has improved across Canadian, U.S., and global small caps, investor attention, flows, and positioning remain heavily skewed toward large‑cap names. In Don’t Forget About Us, CI GAM explores why this disconnect between fundamentals and sentiment may be creating a compelling opportunity - and why how investors access small caps matters more than ever.
Key Points
- Small caps are working again: Small‑cap equities have outperformed their large‑cap peers year‑to‑date, yet investor engagement remains muted.
- The opportunity is under‑recognized, not crowded: Positioning, flows, and media coverage continue to favour mega caps, leaving small caps overlooked despite improving fundamentals.
- Passive exposure has structural flaws: Small‑cap indices often include a high proportion of unprofitable, lower‑quality companies, diluting index‑level returns.
- Active management matters more in small caps: Limited analyst coverage and greater dispersion create inefficiencies that skilled active managers can exploit through disciplined research and valuation.
- CI’s approach focuses on quality and discipline: Emphasizing a business‑owner mindset, valuation discipline, risk management, and high‑conviction ideas aims to deliver a differentiated return stream across cycles.
About the Author
Dillon Suresh is a Director, Institutional Portfolio Manager at CI Global Asset Management, where he oversees the firm’s equity strategies. In this role, he delivers portfolio insights to institutional and advisor audiences while supporting the positioning and growth of CI GAM’s equity solutions.
Prior to joining CI GAM, Dillon was a Senior Associate on the Investment Strategy Group at BMO. His work involved developing market outlooks and contributing to the development of year end market targets for the S&P 500 and the S&P TSX Composite. He previously worked at Willis Towers Watson as an investment consultant, advising institutional clients on asset allocation and portfolio construction decisions.
Dillon holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Toronto and is a CFA charter holder.
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