This index, which debuted June 2005, is comprised of companies in the $55 to $500 million range.
However it excludes OTCBB stocks and stocks trading for under $1.
Measuring performance of the microcap segment, representing less than 3% of the U.S. equity market,
it includes the smallest 1,000 securities in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index plus the next 1,000 securities.
You can now see a chart for the index at leading financial sites.
Click here to see it at Bigcharts.com.
A fund based on it from Ishares (div. of Barclays) is now traded on the NYSE under the symbol IWC. (See chart at right.)
is designed to identify companies from the universe of micro cap stocks with potentially superior risk-return profiles as determined by Zacks Investment Research.
The Index is an equal-dollar weighted index comprised of the between 300 and 500 highest-ranking stocks selected quarterly
from among the smallest 2,500 U.S. listed companies by market capitalization based on a proprietary multi-factor quantitative selection methodology.
The Index divisor was initially determined to yield the benchmark value of 1000.00 at the close of trading December 31, 1999.
For purposes of this fund, Zacks defines microcaps as capitalizations typically under $1 billion and often under $100 million.
Click here to see it at Bigcharts.com.
A fund based on it, from
Powershares Capital Management is now traded on the
AMEX under the symbol PZI. (See chart at right.)
In June, 2005, Dow Jones launched an index of 281 microcap stocks listed at the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market. Here's a current chart at ADVFN. An ETF based on this index, the First Trust Dow Jones Select MicroCap
is traded on the AMEX under the stock symbol FDM. (See chart at right.)
Debuted March 2005. Unlike the other indices in this family, the Micro-Cap index is not split into Growth and Value indexes. It has a variable component number and is reviewed twice a year. It will include an OTCBB company which had listed first on a major exchange (but will not incude it if it drops to the pinks). There are approx. 2,500 companies in the index and the average company has approx. $270 mil. market cap. See it at Bigcharts.
This index was launched in December 2004 by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. It is not yet clear exactly how many truly small companies are in this group or whether it includes OTCBB and Pink companies. MSCI targets for inclusion approx. the bottom 1.5% of the U.S. equity market capitalization and the index contains more than 1,400 companies.. To view details you will need to register at MSCI (for free). Or see it at Bigcharts.
A market capitalization-based index which privides an indication of performance for companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (Toronto, Canada). The index does not have a fixed number of companies. It is maintained by a committee comprised of members of S&P and the TSX Venture Exchange. The TSX Venture Exchange provides emerging companies with access to capital while offering investors a well-regulated market for making venture investments.
As of summer 2006, Claymore Advisors LLC is planning a portfolio designed to follow an index designed by investment-research firm Sabrient Systems LLC that tracks 250 U.S.-traded stocks and American depositary receipts with little or no analyst coverage. The overall strategy is to actively represent a group of stocks that are "flying under the radar screen" of Wall Street's analysts, but which have displayed robust growth characteristics. Claymore Advisors LLC and Claymore Investments Inc. are units of Claymore Group Inc.
Claymore Investments has separate Websites for Canadian investors and
U.S. investors.
IBD maintains 3 interesting indices which are based on factors other than size.
They do not say that they exclude OTCBB companies; however, a sampling of their lists show mostly NASDAQ National
companies with several NYSE companies and a few NASDAQ Small Cap companies.
This index is comprised of 30 stocks that were selected based on a host of qualitative and quantitative criteria, such as, but not limited to: (1) three month average trade volume, (2) market capitalization, (3) historical stock price, (4) shares outstanding, (5) estimated float, (6) sales, (7) operating history, and (8) sector/industry diversity. Due to the lack of trade activity, many notable OTCBB stocks were omitted.
Davren says that their index is made up of 50 companies, all trading from $0.01 to $5.00 at the time of being added to the index. They represent a broad spectrum of starting prices, with all pricing levels being represented.
Every major industry is represented.
Almost every major sector has representative stocks as part of the Penny Stock Index.
The MicrocapTrade 100 Index is the new stock performance benchmark for the OTCBB microcap equity market.
The first and only index of its kind, the MicrocapTrade 100 acts as a broad market indicator for the U.S.
OTCBB microcap market, a severely neglected yet very important market segment.
As the only barometer devoted exclusively to microcap and "nanocap" stocks (pennystocks),
the MicroCap 100 represents many of the fastest growing development-stage companies in industries such as technology,
software, internet, telecommunications, biotechnology, healthcare and oil & gas. The OTCBBTrader site offers free basic info. and the main MicrocapTrade site offers in-depth paid info.
MicrocapTrade also shows the following OTCBB sector indices:
Technology 25, Biotech 20, Telecom 15, Oil & Gas 15, Mining 15, Medical 10
In addition, they feature a running daily composite showing the Total Share Volume, the Total Estimated Dollar Volume, the Total Number of Trades, and the Average Price Per share.
Started in August 2001, this index is available only to people who subscribe to "The Bowser Report",
a leading newsletter covering stocks $3 a share or less.
Here is a link to an article about the index.
When selected, the index's 50 stocks had market capitalizations mostly under $50 million, a price of $3 or less and a rating of 8 or higher under Bowser's system, which is balance sheet oriented. Mr. Bowser looks at current assets and current liabilities for an indication of working capital. He looks at earnings over last the five years, and current earnings are double weighted. He likes to see a small amount of debt or none at all. He also prefers companies with a small amount of shares outstanding who don't have many people buying. According to a Nov 2003 article (Daily Press - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News), the index had a 101 percent increase compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 8 percent decline during the same period of a little more than two years.
Both include a number of OTCBB companies plus a few pinks and other small companies. Since its creation in September of 2002, the DonPenny.com research team has used the DonPenny.com Nanotechnology Index to track their nanotechnology stock picks. It looks like the Website also plans to create more industry indices. To view the indices you will need to sign up for a (free) Website membership.
This is available via a number of brokers and, along with other current indices, at financial news sources such as Tampa Bay (link at left). The index was started around the year 2000 by a company called MicroCap1000.com (AmericaInvest) which disappeared. Next it was powered by Stockpoint which was taken over by Marketwatch which, in turn, has been acquired by Dow Jones. However, Dow Jones Marketwatch says that, although this is one of the indices they provide in their services, index figures are supplied by Comstock and are being maintained elswhere. Comstock says they do not supply the index to Marketwatch! The original description said it measures the daily price performance of companies with equity capitalization of under $500 million, identifying and tracking the premiere companies within the MicroCap sector. Unlike many other indices, this one did not specifically exclude OTCBB companies.
The StockSmart MicroCap Index is (or was) compiled by
StockSmart.
The last time we looked at their site we could not find the index;
however it may be there as a paid subscription feature only.
(Some features of their site are free and some paid.)
Previously, they said their MicroCap index consists of Common Stocks with Market Cap between $1MM and $50MM,
minimum price $1.00 and average daily volume exceeding 10,000 shares.
They did not say whether or not they include OTCBB stocks
but a random sampling of the stocks in the index showed only
NASDAQ National Market System and NASDAQ Small Cap companies.
Sadly, for a while the Website was for sale and then stopped being updated. As of Spring '04 this Index went down and the last time we looked the entire site had deteriorated. We are keeping the link in hopes that someone may buy the site and get it going again.
This index was launched on 10/16/01 with an initial value of 500.00 which was equally weighted between all 25
companies in the index at the time of inception. The companies included were chosen from a cross section of various sectors and had to have an
adequate daily trading volume, a legitimate business, etc.
SMALL CAP INDICES:
These cover companies much larger than you may think!
There are a number of market indices which, by their names, look like they might apply to microcap companies, but really do not. A "Small Cap" index will not be relevant. A "Micro Cap" index might be.
The very interesting Morningstar.com Style-Box cube of indexes contains Value, Core, Growth and Overall sub-indexes for Small Cap, Mid Cap and Large Cap companies. Morningstar defines "Small Cap" as "US stocks that fall between 90th and 97th percentile in market capitalization of the investable universe. In aggregate, the Small Cap Index represents 7 percent of the investable universe." However, they also say "To be eligible for Morningstar's indexes, a stock must be...listed on the NYSE, the AMEX, or Nasdaq...."
The Wilshire Small Cap Index (symbol WSX), which you can see
at Bigcharts.com, is comprised of 250 companies with an average market capitalization of $933 million. An OTCBB company probably has a market capitalization of less than 100 mil. and even more likely only $1 mil. to $50 mil.
The S&P Small Cap 600 is chosen for market size, among other things, and contains companies much larger than those on the OTCBB.
The Zacks Small Cap Index was created to challenge the other small cap indexes in this list and is similar to them.
The Russell 2000 Index. complied by the Frank Russell Co. contains the 2000 smallest stocks in the Russell 3000 index. However, the Russell 3000 is comprised of the 3000 largest stocks in the US!
The new Morgan Stanley Emerging Growth Index (symbol EGI), posted at the Pacific Stock Exchange, covers 50 of the larger growth companies, not the very small ones.
The National Over-The-Counter Index (symbol XOC) posted at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange does not contain OTCBB companies. It has the 100 largest capitalized corporations whose stocks are traded on the NASDAQ exchange.
Additional useful figures:
Not exactly an index, but useful figures, can be found at PinkSheets.com which gives you the Total Share Volume and the Total Estimated Dollar Volume for the previous day. About 1,800 of the pink sheet companies are also quoted on the OTCBB and, according to a January 2005 article, 40% of OTCBB stocks' trading volume occurs on the Pink Sheets system!
Also not exactly an index, but a chart including some microcap companies can be found on Wall-Street.com's Venture-Capital-Holding-Company Chart. The chart tracks the new breed of publicly traded Internet VC/Incubator type of companies, from largest through smallest.
AllStocks did a Study of the OTCBB which offers some interesting figures. Unfortunately, it runs only through 1998.
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