Ola DD. Any opinion on TESOF?
Cross your fingers on CSCO and SUNW this week.
Barron's listed Janus family of funds at the bottom for performance in 2000. Morningstar, on the other hand is optimistic about 2001:
Janus Funds Rally Hard after Traumatic 2000
morningstar.com
Written by Christine Benz
Although the year is still young, Janus funds have already begun
to atone for their abysmal returns in 2000.
The firm's six large-cap growth funds averaged a return of 3.9%
in
the month of January, versus a 2.3% return for the typical fund
in
that category. Most of the other Janus funds also climbed into
their
categories' top halves for the month.
The flagship Janus Fund [JANSX:Nasdaq], which closed
to new investors in September 2000, notched a particularly
strong
gain of 8.1% in January. Manager Blaine Rollins has been one of
Janus' biggest backers of the AOL-Time Warner combination, and
shares
of the newly merged company have rallied heartily since the deal
was
approved earlier last month. (Time Warner was Janus Fund's
largest
position as of its most recently available portfolio.)
Meanwhile,
some of Rollins' other top holdings at the end of the third
quarter
have made a strong run. Linear Technology [LLTC:NNM]
and Maxim Integrated Products [MXIM:NNM], for example,
have popped along with the rest of the chip sector this year.
Janus Twenty [JAVLX:Nasdaq] and Janus Mercury
[JAMRX:Nasdaq], two of the firm's harder-hit funds in
2000, each gained more than 4% in January. Twenty likely also
got a
boost from AOL Time Warner [AOL:NYSE], while AT&T
Liberty Media, a big holding in Mercury's most recently
available
portfolio, has borne fruit after a disastrous 2000.
Janus Special Situations [JASSX:Nasdaq] has also come
on strong following a difficult year in 2000. Not only has the
fund's
bevy of telecom and media stocks enjoyed a more hospitable
environment, but the fund also had a big position in Advanced
Micro
Devices [AMD:NYSE] toward the end of last year. That
stock has run up sharply so far in 2001.
Janus Orion [JORNX:Nasdaq] is also looking better in
its sophomore outing than it did following its inauspiciously
timed
launch in mid-2000. Manager Ron Sachs' small- and mid-cap tech
and
telecom holdings, which bore the brunt of last year's sell-off,
have
staged a dramatic rebound thus far this year.
The story is similar with Janus Venture
[JAVTX:Nasdaq]. Although the fund took a body blow in
2000, shedding nearly half its value, it has roared back in 2001
with
a 10.2% gain in January.
On the flip side, the Janus funds that were positioned more
defensively coming into this year haven't enjoyed as big a pop
in the
early innings of 2001. Janus Olympus, whose most recent
portfolio
featured some defensive names like Kroger [KR:NYSE]
and Colgate-Palmolive [CL:NYSE] alongside the typical
Janus array of highfliers, was up only slightly in January. (Its
overall return wasn't out of whack with the large-cap growth
category
average, however.)
Similarly, Janus Equity-Income [JAEIX:Nasdaq], which
has assumed a somewhat more conservative stance since manager Karen
Reidy took it over at the beginning of 2000, has logged merely so-so
returns so far this year. |
