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March 01, 2004 at 07:00 PM
Quick Take: Manager Joe Frohna looks for small companies poised for turnarounds for First American Small Cap Growth Opport/A (FRMPX). He often finds potential candidates among smaller-cap stocks because they tend to be overlooked by many investors.
A by-product of smaller-cap holdings is that they tend to be volatile, boosting the fund’s volatility relative to its peers. The fund’s volatility profile, as measured by its 30.42% standard deviation, is moderately higher than the 26.73% average for small-cap growth funds.
Despite this volatility, the fund has generated impressive returns recently, and over the long term. For the one-year period through last month, the fund rose 74.8%, versus a 53.9% gain for its peers. For the five-year period through January, the fund was up 26.6%, on average, compared with a 4.5% rise for its peers.
Frohna attributes these results to investing early in rising stocks, as well as combining top-down and bottom-up strategies. The manager looks for promising investment themes and then picks about 15 stocks in a sector likely to benefit from those trends. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Frohna says.
The Full Interview:
S&P: What is your basic investment strategy?
FROHNA: We look for companies likely to grow 10% to 20%. They don’t need to show this growth right away, but we like companies with a catalyst that will accelerate their growth. We’ll take contrarian positions before other investors catch on.
We look for companies with market capitalization of under $1 billion, although we’ll go up to $2 billion. Most of our holdings have market caps of under $1 billion because that is a less efficient part of the market. We typically have 100 to 150 stocks in the fund.
S&P: Why is the fund more volatile than the average small-cap growth fund?
FROHNA: Because we skew a little more toward smaller-cap stocks, day-to-day stock changes can hit us more as liquidity dries up. In periods of geopolitical stress, we can underperform.
S&P: Do you consider any top-down trends in building the portfolio?
FROHNA: We use a theme-based approach because it reduces single-company risk. Rather than take big risks, we’ll hold small positions in several companies. We’ll cherry pick about 15 positions within an area. At any given time, we’ll probably have 10 to 11 different themes accounting for 60% of the portfolio. We look for companies up and down the food chain in certain areas, and if their fundamentals are right, we’ll invest in them. At the end of the day, a rising tide lifts all boats.
