Small-caps have underperformed these past few years, despite historically cheap valuations, improved market sentiment, and improved value stock performance. I thought to investigate these issues. I'll be focusing on the Russell 2000, the most well-known U.S. small-cap equity index, and parent index to several ETFs, including the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWM), with over $59B in AUM. An issue with the Russell 2000 is that it includes a growing number of unprofitable companies. These have been a drag on the index's performance in the past, leading to losses and underperformance these past few years.