When we listen to the news, we mostly hear about large, brand-name companies. However, mid-sized companies and related ETFs have shown some decent gains as the economy rights itself.

According to Will McClatchy for ETFZone, overweighting or underweighting mid-caps coming out of a bear market can be a good play for an ETF portfolio, depending on the economic conditions, and mid-caps are relatively less volatile than small-caps.

If senior executives in the companies you are invested have less than 14 years experience, then they have not managed in a difficult economic period. Equally as challenging, analysts that are covering company stocks with less than 14 years of experience may not have the experience to properly evaluate the activities of senior management. So what clues should investors look for in properly evaluating whether the company they are following is going to survive the downturn?

From my own experience, executives of publicly traded companies are first seeking to reduce costs, closely followed by increasing revenues. My purpose is not to debate those priorities, but to explain the top five initiatives that every best-in-class company (BICC) above $100m should be doing today in order to survive the current down turn as well as come out stronger when the economy recovers. To enact these and other initiatives, BICCs today create a sense of urgency and pursue change relentlessly. They understand how to manage the naysayers who insist change efforts will not work.

Mid Cap Traditional Index ETFs
iShares S&P MidCap 400 Index Fund (IJH)
iShares Russell Midcap Index Fund (IWR)
iShares Morningstar Mid Core Index Fund (JKG)
SPDR DJ Wilshire Mid Cap ETF (EMM)
Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO)

iShares Morningstar Series ETFs
iShares Morningstar Large Core Index Fund (JKD)
iShares Morningstar Mid Core Index Fund (JKG)
iShares Morningstar Small Core Index Fund (JKJ)