244 / 772
2
third of assets overseas—quite a bit more than you’d
typically see at a large-growth fund.
Fidelity Blue Chip Growth
FBGRX
Sonu Kalra recently passed the five-year tenure mark
in style at this Bronze-rated fund. He uses a fairly
typical Fidelity growth strategy of seeking out strong
earnings growth with a strong emphasis on tech.
In fact, Kalra’s background is in tech as he ran tech
funds for Fidelity and managed the tech-laden
Fidelity OTC
FOCPX
. The big question here is how
will his record look after a down market? At
Fidelity
OTC
, he lost
46%
in
2008
, though he did
beat his benchmark over his entire tenure there.
Fidelity International Discovery
FIGRX
A dip in fees brought this Bronze-rated fund to the
Fantastic
50
. In
2014
, expenses fell to
0
.
93%
from
0
.
98%
, making it a pretty cheap foreign fund. Bill
Kennedy has been on the fund for
10
years, and he’s
outpaced his benchmark by more than
100
basis
points a year. Although you can crunch a lot of data
in your office, Kennedy is a big believer in getting
out to visit businesses around the globe.
Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock
FLVCX
This fund is making its debut on the list because its
Morningstar Risk rating came down to Above Average
from High. As the name makes plain, the idea here
is to buy companies with leveraged balance sheets,
which can thus provide a boost when prospects
improve. Of course, that’s a dangerous game as
recessions can be very hard on leveraged companies.
The fund is the brain child of Fidelity’s high-yield
team, which is accustomed to figuring out which
leveraged companies are good bets to survive
and pay their debt. So, in a way, this is a high-yield
fund on steroids. Tom Soviero has thumped the
market in his
12
years on the fund, but be prepared
to suffer in the next downturn.
Fidelity Low-Priced Stock
FLPSX
Joel Tillinghast has defied the laws of physics
by producing great results long after this fund should
have crumbled under the weight of assets. He
crams
$46
billion into a portfolio of more than
900
stocks while maintaining an average market cap
that’s right in the middle of the mid-cap universe. That
really shouldn’t work, but Tillinghast just keeps
on going. Expenses came down a bit in
2013
, helping
it get into the cheapest quintile. The fund’s asset
bloat keeps it out of Gold, but the Silver rating
reflects Tillinghast’s skill and dedication to the fund.
Fidelity OTC
FOCPX
Gavin Baker passed the five-year post to become
eligible for this list. Kalra’s successor at Fidelity
OTC
has done a fine job continuing the fund’s run of
success. Baker’s aim is to beat the Nasdaq composite
by finding its best growth names. So far, he’s beaten
it by about
100
basis points per year. Be warned,
though, that the fund’s focus on the odd duck Nasdaq
index makes it tech-heavy and probably better
used as a niche holding than a core investment.
Oakmark Equity & Income
OAKBX
This has long been a stellar fund, and it finally made
it to the cheapest quintile of moderate-allocation
funds when expenses fell to
0
.
74%
in
2014
. Clyde
McGregor is nearing his
20
th year on the fund,
and he’s joined by three comanagers who came on
board in
2013
: Colin Hudson, Matthew Logan,
and Ed Wojciechowski. The strategy is a typical
Oakmark one of seeking good companies trading at
sizable discounts to Oakmark’s estimate of their
intrinsic value. That leads to top holdings like
Oracle
ORCL
,
GM
GM
, and
Nestle
. The fund typically
has well more in equity than bonds.
Returning to the Fantastic 50
American Funds
Besides the newbie, we have
10
returning American
Funds. American is well-designed to check all
the boxes. It has long-tenured managers who put
their money where their mouths are. In addition,
nearly all American Funds are cheap. The funds aren’t
flashy, but they have rewarded patient investors
for many years.
Berwyn Income
BERIX
Buying companies with strong balance sheets,
dividends, and strong cash flow has made this fund
a winner.
Fantastic 50
Continued From Cover