Two stock picks from a money manager who expects small-caps to roar in 2027

A fund manager at Calamos Investments expects small-cap stocks to outperform in 2027, and his four-star rated fund is positioned accordingly. According to the source, Brandon Nelson's thesis centers on financial services applications, a corner of the market that has drawn renewed attention as digital tools reshape how consumers and businesses handle money.

The relevance here is less about any single stock and more about the rotation argument. Small-caps have generally lagged larger peers in recent years, so a manager publicly positioning for a 2027 rebound reflects a view that valuations and earnings prospects may be shifting. When a rated fund tilts toward a specific theme, it can signal where some professional investors see asymmetric opportunity.

What to watch: whether small-cap breadth improves beyond a handful of names, how financial services apps perform on user growth and profitability, and whether rate or credit conditions support smaller, more domestically focused companies. Investors should treat a manager's outlook as one input among many, not a forecast.