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Make sure you read the first edition of the Small Cap Idea Book. It’s probably my best ever article.
My top 20 ideas in one 150 page pdf you can download.
Each idea has its own 7 page writeup, is categorized, and easily comparable.
Four categories of ideas:
Compounders with strong moats and growth runways
Serial acquirers with great capital allocators
Cyclical stocks close to rebounding
Self-help stories with structural improvement
I have spent months going over 300 US small caps with a market cap of $100mm-$2bn to find the ‘hidden gems’.
I believe 6 stocks have 100-200% upside over three years, 10 have 50-100%, and 4 are worth monitoring anyway because they are great businesses or have a great owner-operator.
Judges Scientific (JDG)
More background: Special Report, 2026 Outlook, Podcast
Judges Scientific reported H1 results that I thought were positive and showed that earnings have finally inflected.
The half itself was tough, but we already knew that from the trading statement in July. Here were the headline numbers, and you can read my full update at the time the statement was released here:
Revenues £55.7mm, -21%
North America -35%, China -47%, UK -5%, Rest of Europe -10%, Rest of World -18% or +9% excluding the Coring expedition.
Revenues were impacted by a tough comp as US academic spending only fell from the beginning of Q2 ‘25, postponement of offshore wind projects, and delays in China finalizing new R&D tax exemption processes for scientific equipment.
Eight of the businesses grew, benefiting from internal growth initiatives, recovery in battery development, and strength in semiconductors.
Adj EBIT = £4.8mm, -66%
Full year EPS guidance remains in line with market expectations of 200.5p adj EPS.
Why do I think the results were positive?
I believe order growth inflected to +20-25% in Q3 and the company is on track to generate roughly an annualized EPS of 290p in H2, putting the stock on 12.4x P/E despite the recovery just beginning. Judges has historically traded around 25x.
There is an important clue that I think most investors missed.
Paid subscribers get:
Why Q3 orders are tracking to be Judges’ biggest ever ex Coring
Why current annualized EPS is almost 30% above consensus estimates
What my industry sources say about when US academic spending returns
Jet2’s uplisting catalyst and why underlying P/E is only 6.1x
The Idea Book with my top 20 small cap ideas
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