Abercrombie & Fitch CoNYSE: ANF

When used judiciously, small-cap stocks can juice your portfolio's long-term returns. Morningstar.com portfolio strategist Amy Arnott discussed using small caps within a portfolio in June.

Even with a slight early-summer correction on the books, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA ) stock still finished the first half of 2024 as one of the biggest and brightest winners, with a gain of around 152%. That's an amazing return in a six-year timespan, let alone a six-month one.

Amidst a fashion retail market that is basically flat – growing only 1% from $303.4 billion in 2022 to $307.1 billion in 2023 – Abercrombie & Fitch Co. growth trajectory is nothing short of astounding. Full-year 2023 net sales were up 16% across its flagship Abercrombie and teen-focused Hollister brands, reaching $4.3 billion.

Abercrombie (ANF) is well positioned to outperform the market, as it exhibits above-average growth in financials.

Abercrombie & Fitch, Sunoco and Duolingo all sport a favorable Zacks Rank, with favorable earnings estimate revisions painting a positive picture.

Growth stocks are perfect for individuals who accept the greater inherent risk involved in stocks compared to the average investor. However, choosing what growth stocks to invest in can be tricky.

The U.S. consumer, the backbone of this economy, has been showing increasing strain over the last two years. The latest figures from the Commerce Department released this week showed retails sales barely grew in May.

The  Russell 2000  is a stock market index that comprises 2000 small and mid-cap stocks trading in the U.S. It is a solid gauge of the overall market's performance regarding small and mid-sized companies. Investors should use the Russell 2000 as a resource if seeking to gain exposure to high-performing smaller companies which are growing into more reputable and prominent companies.

The S&P 500 repeatedly hit record highs in the first half of 2024, but concerns over prolonged inflation and high interest rates weighed on market enthusiasm. The Quant Team's portfolio of Top 10 Stocks for 2024 is +55% YTD compared to the S&P 500's +25.05% (as of 6/18/24). Nine out of ten of the quant picks for the first half experienced double-digit positive returns, so we're bullish into the year's second half with new stock picks.