Forget Nasdaq. These stocks are just as hot

Published Fri, Apr 24 20157:00 AM EDTUpdated Fri, Apr 24 20158:35 AM EDT

While the Nasdaq grabbed all the headlines after closing at a record, investors failed to notice another hot area of the market: mid-caps. Since the beginning of the year, the S & P Mid-Cap 400 is up 6 percent, the same as the Nasdaq composite. In comparison, the S & P 500 is up only 3 percent. One reason investors raced to the mid-cap space this year was due to the surge in the dollar, which has weighed on the more established multinational names . The chart below shows performance of the S & P MidCap 400 index this year in relation to the Nasdaq composite and the S & P 500. Source: FactSet This earnings season, a slew of large-cap companies blamed the strong dollar for lackluster sales, resulting in 56 percent of those firms missing revenue estimates, according to Thomson Reuters. As CNBC Pro highlighted earlier this year, the sentiment among investors pointed to mid-cap stocks becoming the sweet spot for the market . One of market watchers to flag this trend was John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, who told us how investors had started to rotate away from large international conglomerates in favor of U.S.-centric stocks. Well, that strategy is now in full swing. "We are bullish long-term on [small] and mid-cap equities," said Sam Doctor, a strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors. In a note to clients this week, Doctor noted that smaller names have historically posted faster sales growth and are more likely to get acquired than their larger counterparts, two qualities perfect for this market environment. And because smaller stocks are covered by much fewer Wall Street analysts than large caps, Doctor believes there's a "greater potential" for mid-caps to surprise on the positive side during earnings season. The Money Play: Three of the best performing mid-cap ETFs this year are the Schwab U.S. Mid-Cap ETF , the SPDR S & P Midcap 400 ETF Trust , and the Vanguard Mid Cap Index Fund —all up more than 6 percent. For specific names, Fundstrat recommends clients look at mid-cap stocks such as LGI Homes , a Texas-based homebuilder, Kulicke and Soffa , a semiconductor equipment maker, and RPX Corp , which provides patent risk management solutions. Read More 10 stocks to ride the Nasdaq record

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While the Nasdaq grabbed all the headlines after closing at a record, investors failed to notice another hot area of the market: mid-caps.

Since the beginning of the year, the S&P Mid-Cap 400 is up 6 percent, the same as the Nasdaq composite. In comparison, the is up only 3 percent.