Many investors prefer to stick to big capitalization companies for their stocks investment. Oldies but goodies like Microsoft and Apple continue to remain stable despite market upheavals. On the other hand, smaller companies are quickly gaining notice in the stock markets. Crocs, a company that was a nobody a few years ago, has suddenly become a must-have for adults and children in the last few years, and the company's share prices have risen noticeably.

Investment experts say that over the last 80 years, small cap stocks have gained an average of 13% a year versus the 10% gain of big cap stocks. This means that if you invested in small caps, over a ten year period you would have gained 230% as opposed to a 170% gain on big caps stocks investment.

Still, many remain wary of the small cap stocks investment because of the risk factor. The more adventurous investors take the small caps plunge, but only after carefully researching the companies and analyzing their trends.

Big cap stocks are those from the bigger and steadier companies, whose sales, although steady will not bring in as much profit as the small cap stocks. For many big cap companies, the expression; too big to fail is an attribute that is often true. Although these companies have their difficulties, many of them recover. The risk in stocks investment in these companies failing, therefore, is less.

Small cap companies generally give a higher rate of return on your stocks investment, primarily because fewer stocks are traded. With small companies, a few millions of additional sales may make the value of the stocks investment shoot up quickly. But then again, those same stocks can just as quickly decline on the same day, especially if someone unloads a huge chunk and there is not enough corresponding demand for the stocks.

There is also a higher amount of fraud involved, and if the stock hype is a fraud, the value can very quickly decline when those hyping up the stocks unload their holdings.

Investment experts say that the way to choose between big caps and small caps is to observe the market trend. There are times when the big caps rule, and there are times when the small caps take center stage. One way of finding out which one is the current market flavor is by looking at stock indices. These are charts that show the trend of stocks investment for both big cap and small cap stocks.

For big cap stocks investment, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJII) the Nasdaq Composite index, and the S&P 500 provide information on the performance of big cap funds. The Russell 2000 and the S&P 600 both keep tabs on small caps stocks. Taking the time to study the trend on these indices, and the performance of the stocks that you are eying, will pay off by providing you with historical information on how the stock has performed in the past and which direction it is heading to at the moment.

Ultimately, the decision whether to go big cap or small cap will lie with you. If the money you are intending to use for your stocks investment is your retirement fund, your lifetime savings, or your children's trust fund, investing in the big caps would be wiser. You don't want to risk losing that amount overnight on some small company whose stocks were too volatile for you to get out quickly.

On the other hand, if you have some disposable income with no intended use for it and you have the time to track the progress of your stocks investment, then you can go for the small caps, but only after careful research and analysis.

It makes more sense to have a varied mix of big caps and small caps stocks in your portfolio, so that when the big caps are not making any major changes your small caps stocks investment can give you earnings. Whatever you do, don't go into any stocks investment without being armed with enough information about the company you're buying into.