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

A fund manager at Calamos Investments is positioning for a potential small-cap rally in 2027, according to a report on his stock picks. Brandon Nelson, who manages a four-star rated fund, is focusing on financial services applications as his way to participate in that expected move.

The thesis rests on small-caps having lagged larger peers, which can leave the segment more sensitive to shifts in sentiment when investors rotate toward cheaper or more domestically geared companies. A fund manager's public positioning is not a forecast, but it does offer a window into how some professionals are framing the next few years.

What to watch: whether small-cap indexes actually begin outperforming, how earnings and interest-rate expectations evolve, and whether financial apps sustain user and revenue growth. Ratings and star designations reflect past performance and do not guarantee future results, so investors should treat any single manager's view as one input among many.