1 Small-Cap Stock with Competitive Advantages and 2 to Brush Off

July 11, 2025 at 00:33 AM EDT

QTWO Cover Image

Investors looking for hidden gems should keep an eye on small-cap stocks because they’re frequently overlooked by Wall Street. Many opportunities exist in this part of the market, but it is also a high-risk, high-reward environment due to the lack of reliable analyst price targets.

These trade-offs can cause headaches for even the most seasoned professionals, which is why we started StockStory - to help you separate the good companies from the bad. That said, here is one small-cap stock that could amplify your portfolio’s returns and two best left ignored.

Two Small-Cap Stocks to Sell:

Q2 Holdings (QTWO)

Market Cap: $5.77 billion

Founded in 2004 by Hank Seale, Q2 (NYSE: QTWO) offers software-as-a-service that enables small banks to provide online banking and consumer lending services to their clients.

Why Are We Cautious About QTWO?

Revenue increased by 11.8% annually over the last three years, acceptable on an absolute basis but tepid for a software company enjoying secular tailwinds
Gross margin of 51.8% is way below its competitors, leaving less money to invest in areas like marketing and R&D
Capital intensity will likely ramp up in the next year as its free cash flow margin is expected to contract by 2.4 percentage points

Q2 Holdings is trading at $92.59 per share, or 7.5x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than QTWO.

Perma-Fix (PESI)

Market Cap: $214 million

Tackling hazardous waste challenges since 1990, Perma-Fix (NASDAQ: PESI) provides environmental waste treatment services.

Why Do We Pass on PESI?

Products and services are facing significant end-market challenges during this cycle as sales have declined by 7.3% annually over the last five years
Diminishing returns on capital from an already low starting point show that neither management’s prior nor current bets are going as planned
Short cash runway increases the probability of a capital raise that dilutes existing shareholders

Perma-Fix’s stock price of $11.60 implies a valuation ratio of 107.1x forward EV-to-EBITDA. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why PESI doesn’t pass our bar.

One Small-Cap Stock to Watch:

SentinelOne (S)

Market Cap: $5.93 billion

With roots in the Israeli cyber intelligence community, SentinelOne (NYSE: S) provides software to help organizations efficiently detect, prevent, and investigate cyber attacks.

Why Could S Be a Winner?

Customers view its software as mission-critical to their operations as its ARR has averaged 28.1% growth over the last year
Sales outlook for the upcoming 12 months implies the business will stay on its desirable three-year growth trajectory
Free cash flow margin is expected to increase by 7 percentage points next year, suggesting the company will have more capital to invest or return to shareholders

At $17.98 per share, SentinelOne trades at 5.6x forward price-to-sales. Is now the right time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.

Stocks We Like Even More

Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth.

While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we’re leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 5 Strong Momentum Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today

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