Top Five Small-Cap Stocks

Driven by important factors such as strong earnings growth of 29.03%, this stock has surged 57.75% over the past year. We feel that Exponent should continue to climb despite its already impressive performance. The company believes that it remains well positioned to capture new opportunities for growth as it moves further into fiscal 2008. For the full year, management expects to report high single-digit to low double-digit growth in revenue as a result of the company's plans to pursue strategic opportunities. However, Exponent's future results could be negatively impacted by any disruptive changes in both general and industry-specific economic conditions and the effects of tort reform and government regulation of the company's business.

Balchem BCPC develops, manufactures and markets specialty performance ingredients and products for the food, feed and mechanical sterilization industries. Balchem produces choline products for both human and animal consumption. Choline, a vitamin-B complex, plays a vital role in the metabolism of fat and the building and maintaining of cell structures. Choline deficiency can result in reduced growth and perosis (a disease characterized by a deformity of the leg joint) in poultry, and fatty liver, kidney necrosis and general poor health in swine, among other symptoms. In humans, choline is recognized as playing a key role in the structural integrity of cell membranes, the processing of dietary fat, reproductive development, and neural functions such as memory and muscle function.

Balchem also produces encapsulated performance ingredients for use throughout the food and animal-health industries in end products such as baked goods, refrigerated and frozen dough, processed meats, seasoning blends, and confections. These performance ingredients are used to enhance nutritional fortification and improve shelf life of prepared products.