Beating the Market With Small Caps & Industrials

Stocks opened lower today amid concerns about interest rates, but in order to help investors beat the market’s descent, CNBC enlisted the help of the experts.

Opportunities in Small Caps

“They [Steris] sterilize medical equipment in the devices in the hospital. Clearly there’s a big trend of staph infections—or otherwise where people enter a hospital and leave sicker than they came in—and they’re capitalizing on that trend.”

- Michael Petroff, Heartland Value Plus Fund Portfolio Manager

Petroff also recommends: Asset Acceptance Capital and Werner Enterprises.

Betting on Weak Stocks

"We'd be adding to some of the stocks that are weak, given some of the pre-announcements we saw. For example, a company we own, McDermott , which is exposed to the engineering and construction cycle, pre-announced last night. The long-term fundamental demand story is very good. Another company we really like is Boeing . We maintain an overweight, and it's had some weakness because of some supply-chain disruptions, but I think Boeing is this long-run 'hold' you want to have in your portfolio."

- Kevin Divney, Putnam Vista Fund