In the broader market slowdown that began in early 2018, a number of ‘multibaggers’ of the past decade faltered and lost more than half their values in just two years.In all, there are 45 stocks in the BSE500 index that more than doubled in the first seven years of the decade, but could not continue their pace, and eroded shareholders’ wealth thereafter.YES Bank, of course, tops the list. Others included Somany Ceramics La Opala RG , Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Graphite India, CEAR, Rain Industries, Blue Dart, eClerx, Wockhardt, Bombay Dyeing and Force Motors, among others.,Glass manufacturer La Opala RG surged 4,100 per cent in the first seven years of the decade from 2011 to 2017, but crashed 52 per cent from that point in next two years. Similarly, Somany Ceramics gave 1,500 per cent return in that bull run but is now down 80 per cent from its December 2017 level.Out of the 45 names, nine are trading even below their 2010-end levels. They are Eveready Industries, DHFL, Sadbhav Engineering, eClerx, Bombay Dyeing, Deepak Fertilisers, Wockhardt, Magma Corp, Gateway Distriparks and Gujarat State Fertilizers.Most of the names belong to midcap and smallcap segments, which have been battered badly in last two years.But fortunes could be changing for them soon.Rusmik Oza, Head of Fundamentals Research at Kotak Securities, believes the ground for rally in midcaps and smallcaps is getting ready, as these stocks have seen some traction lately. In last three months, BSE Midcap index has risen 9 per cent and BSE Smallcap index 6 per cent, though both remain in the red on a year-to-date basis.“We need two things to come together: activity on the ground i.e., demand, etc. should pick up and midcap and smallcap companies need to show some earnings visibility. These two factors are not there right now. Maybe, the sentiments have turned positive, but earnings are not visible. Probably, closer to the Budget, midcaps and smallcaps would become the flavour. If the Budget gives some impetus to investors and taxpayers, then it will be an icing on the cake for midcaps and smallcaps,” said Oza.Some of these stocks are also down because of company-specific issues while some have fallen out of favour due to sector-wide slowdown. For instance, YES Bank gave 404 per cent return in the first seven years but today trades at a fraction of those prices because of very high exposure to stressed assets.Traders punished Wadhawan Group’s DHFL on corporate governance issues and tightening of liquidity in the system. The company is now facing insolvency. The stock has crashed 96 per cent from the levels it was trading at in 2017-end.Ajit Mishra of Religare Broking thinks the market is in a better place than it was six months ago, thanks to the optimism over a possible US-China trade deal and improved domestic sentiment. “The up-move will be gradual. Investors would await more data on economic recovery. Nonetheless, those with a 2-3 years’ time horizon should use a buy-on-dips strategy to buy the fundamentally-sound stocks,” he said.Oza sees themes like rural consumption, gas companies like GAIL, Mahanagar Gas, Petronet LNG and some smallcaps to bloom next year. He said companies playing the financialisation theme in India -- life insurance, AMCs and private banks -- could gain. As many as 16 of these 45 stocks fall in these categories.