7 Growth Stocks to Buy Now Before They Become Large Caps Canada’s national business paper, The Globe and Mail, recently interviewed a Toronto-based portfolio manager who seeks out smaller growth stocks with the potential to become large caps over the long haul. Alex Etsell invests $2.3 billion for Hillsdale Investment Management in microcap and small-cap strategies for the firm’s clients. He defines microcaps as stocks with market capitalizations between $100 million and $300 million, while small-caps are those between $300 million and $4 billion. In Etsell’s case, he’s investing in Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange stocks, but his philosophy can be applied to U.S. stocks. “We’re always looking to hold high-quality names, which in this market environment are companies that are growing and still showing profitability and have very strong margins. These factors are especially important in a high-inflation environment,” Etsell told The Globe and Mail on Jul. 23. Therefore, I have selected four small-cap stocks and three microcaps for this article using Estell’s size definitions.