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Byline: JONAH KERI
For some growth investors, large-cap stocks may seem dull. You might picture monolith stocks such as General Motors and General Electric, their stocks moving at a snail's pace while their fundamental growth lags.
Sometimes buying a big-cap stock can even result in significant losses. Verizon Communications, for instance, is down 21% so far this year.
Still, don't let a few bad apples ruin the whole batch. Some big-cap stocks can be big winners. In fact, some great stocks are literally Apples -- like Apple Computer.
The maker of PCs and digital music players sports a $56.3 billion market cap. But it also has a three-year earnings growth rate of 36%, with big sales growth to match. Its stock has surged nearly tenfold since the start of the Nasdaq rally in March 2003. Its Computer-Manufacturers group ranks No. 1 among all 197 industries tracked by IBD.
Those are traits you should look for in any stock, including large caps. But big caps can also offer advantages over smaller-cap stocks.
Large-cap stocks tend to offer more liquidity than small- and mid caps. Institutional investors often buy bigger positions in large-cap stocks, knowing that even big ...