As Paul Andreola, Founder of SmallCap Discoveries, pointed out in our interview last week, investing in small-cap stocks tracking profitable, high-growth companies is the name of the game. Broader sector or macroeconomic noise likely won’t be able to win against this fundamental combination over time.
Conversely, any company that deviates from this framework welcomes outsized risk, requiring smaller position sizing if you’re dealing with a particularly attractive company, or an indefinite stay in your “too-hard pile” until the company gets its financials together.
This article is disseminated in partnership with small-cap companies Central Asia Metals Ltd. and Teamshares. It is intended to inform investors and should not be taken as a recommendation or financial advice.
The lifeblood of small-cap investors is then a lengthy and diversified list of stocks on their watchlists that fit this money-making mold, granting them plenty of arrows in their quivers to replenish their portfolios as companies reach valuation targets and prompt liquidations.
Central Asia Metals
A small-cap stock that has done right by shareholders for more than a decade is Central Asia Metals, market cap £232.09 million, a low-cost base metals producer with a copper operation in Kazakhstan, as well as a zinc and lead mine in North Macedonia, with a proven track record of bolstering critical metals supply chains at a profit.
The wholly-owned Sasa underground mine in North Macedonia was acquired in 2017 but has been in production since the 1960s, substantiating a mine life currently estimated at 8 years. Production guidance for 2026 is set at 18,000-20,000 tons of zinc concentrate, up from 17,881 tons in 2025, and 26,000-28,000 tons of lead, up from 25,156 tons in 2025, supported by numerous ongoing improvements in drilling density, on-site assaying and inventory management (see slide 10 of the Q1 2026 investor deck)
Central Asia Metals’ other flagship asset, its wholly owned Kounrad copper plant in central Kazakhstan, is an in-situ dump leach and SX-EW operation that has recovered more than 180,000 tons of copper cathode since 2012, with another 12,000-13,000 tons expected in 2026 – in line with 13,311 tons in 2025 at C1 cash costs of only US$0.82 per pound – as the company vies to maximize value creation leveraging a license that expires in only 2034.
The company rounds off its operations with an exploration subsidiary in Kazakhstan with highly-prospective licenses in hand led by a team of early-stage exploration geologists, as well as a 32.6 per cent stake in Aberdeen Minerals, whose Arthrath project in Scotland boasts proven potential to host high-grade nickel and copper at depth.
From a financial perspective, Central Asia Metals has been a roaring success when it comes to creating value from its assets, returning US$400 million to shareholders through dividends and buybacks since 2012, versus only US$214 million in equity raises.
Over the past two years, this financial prowess looks like US$101.8 million in EBITDA in 2025, down from US$102.4 million in 2024, with adjusted free cash flow of US$56 million and US$65.7 million, respectively, ending last year with US$79.5 million in cash to capitalize on undervalued acquisitions from a position of strength (see slide 3 of the 2025 investor deck).
Chief Executive Officer, Gavin Ferrar, has been keeping the ship steady since his appointment in October 2025, following more than a decade with the company, drawing on his more than 25 years of mining sector experience. Highlight tenures include Anglo American’s New Mining Business Division and in London’s investment banking sector – split between Investec and Barclays Capital – specializing in mining debt financing, derivatives and equity investments.
Ferrar spoke with Stockhouse’s Rick Lee about Central Asia Metals’ proposed acquisition of Cygnus Metals, which would add a high-grade copper and gold development asset in Quebec to the company’s profitable portfolio. Watch the interview here.
Central Asia Metals stock (LSE:CAML) last traded at £136.20 and has given back 19.50 per cent year-over-year.
Teamshares
A second standout small-cap company on track to enter the public markets is Teamshares, which has deployed a tech-based due diligence process to acquire 92 businesses over the past six years, combining for US$472 million in reported revenue in 2025, affording it a US$525 million pre-money valuation poised to climb higher based on in-house expectations for the next few years.
Teamshares programmatically acquires businesses from retiring owners generating US$0.5-5 million in annual EBITDA, with more than 20 years in business and the potential for 75-85 per cent EBITDA-to-free-cash-flow conversion to sweeten their long-term valuations. The company then grants equity to existing employees to ensure a smooth succession plan.
Teamshares’ portfolio, built at a historical average 4.9x EBITDA multiple, is operated on a decentralized basis, a testament to leadership’s thorough investment criteria, allowing for diversified exposure across the United States and a growing number of essential industries including food and beverage, building products, business services, consumer goods, distribution and technical services.
The company differentiates itself from other roll-up operations by the percentage of acquisition purchase prices it recovers in upstreamed cash at T+24 months, averaging more than 30 per cent from 2020-2023, plus 21 per cent at T+12 months in 2024, offering a glimpse into an efficient integration and acceleration model that has delivered exponential adjusted EBITDA growth as of late – from a loss of US$16 million in 2024, to US$19 million in 2025, to an expected US$60 million in 2025, to more than US$100 million expected in 2027 – painting a prospective picture of what Teamshares’ own multiple might ascend to once its stock hits the market.
Having acquired nine companies in 2025 alone, adding US$26 million in pro-forma adjusted EBITDA, Teamshares leadership is optimistic about what the future holds, aiming to quintuple EBITDA over the next two years, drawing on deal flow of more than 15,000 qualified listings per year and more than 4.5 million small businesses owned by Baby Boomers and Gen X, according to US Census data, in need of value-accretive succession plans (see slide 29 of the 2026 Investor Day deck).
A founder-led team with executive experience aligned to the model – including small business M&A, product management, government, software engineering and public accounting – complemented by a sixth sense for shareholder alignment – as highlighted by their market-level salaries, entirely stock-based incentive plans and more than US$2 million in insider investments at a 4 year or US$25/share lock-up – ties the company’s replicable strategy together with an eye on the long term.
CEO, Michael Brown, sat down with Ricki Lee to introduce Teamshares to the broader investing public as it works through a proposed business combination with Live Oak Acquisition Corp. V (NASDAQ:LOKV). Watch the interview here.
Thanks for reading! I’ll see you next Monday for a new edition of Weekly Market Movers, where I delve into companies that joined Stockhouse for an interview over the past week. Here’s the most recent article, in case you missed it.
Join the discussion: Find out what investors are saying about these small-cap stocks on the Central Asia Metals Ltd. and Live Oak Acquisition Corp. V Bullboards and make sure to explore the rest of Stockhouse’s stock forums and message boards.