4 Small Caps Yielding Up To 9.7%: Calumet Specialty Products (CLMT), Campus Crest Communities (CCG), Universal Technical Institute (UTI), Calamos Asset Management (CLMS

With the exception of energy, 2014 was a good year for nearly all of the major market sectors. Healthcare, utilities, technology, consumer staples and other groups have all logged healthy double-digit gains. But when you examine performance by market capitalization rather than by sector, a different story unfolds.

While the blue-chip heavy S&P 500 ended the year up 14.7%, smaller stocks have gone almost nowhere. The benchmark Russell 2000 Index limped to a 4.9% return, with hundreds of its components either flat or underwater for the year.

That's a bit perplexing for two reasons. First, smaller companies (as compared with globetrotting multinationals) are more closely leveraged to the U.S. economy, which has been among the world's strongest. Second, smaller companies are less exposed to the surging U.S. dollar, which is sitting near multi-year highs versus other foreign currencies and thus a major handicap for manufacturers trying to sell their goods overseas. (more)

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