Firsthand Tech Innovators open again
MAYBE FIRSTHAND WILL BUY MORE NHC !!!
By Justin Wiser, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:42 PM ET Feb 6, 2001
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SAN JOSE (CBS.MW) - Investors clamoring to buy into once hot
technology-sector funds just gained access to the re-opened Firsthand
Technology Innovators Fund.
Firsthand closed the small- and mid-cap fund (TIFQX: news, msgs) to new
investors in December 1999 after assets swelled to $500 million. Last year's
39 percent drop in the Nasdaq ($COMPQ: news, msgs) sunk both the
fund's share price and assets, now around $325 million.
Launched in May 1998 under well-regarded manager Kevin Landis, the
fund returned an annualized 40.9 percent through Jan. 31, making it the
fifth-based performer among science and technology funds in that period,
according to Lipper Inc.
Other tech-heavy, small-cap funds remain closed despite the sector's
retreat last year, including Van Wagoner's Emerging Growth and Microcap
Growth funds, RS Emerging Growth, PBHG New Opportunities, and Firstar
Microcap. The size of companies in which these funds invest - with market
values as small as $100 million and less - demands that they remain
relatively small as well. That allows managers to move deftly in and out of
stock positions without disrupting the market for that stock in the process.
In addition to the Tech Innovators fund, Landis manages Firsthand's
Technology Value (TVFQX: news, msgs) , Technology Leaders (TLFQX:
news, msgs) and Global Technology (GTFQX: news, msgs) funds. The
funds are all open to new investors.
While there is some overlap in the three domestic funds' holdings, each
focuses on a different facet of the tech market. Tech Innovators seeks out
small- and mid-cap firms developing the products of the future.
In contrast, Tech Leaders concentrates on less volatile "blue chip"
technology names, generally mid to large-cap stocks. And Tech Value looks
for underappreciated or undervalued tech companies of any size.
Firsthand Tech Innovators has a fairly high threshold for entry, requiring a
minimum investment of $10,000 for standard accounts and $2,000 for
IRAs. |
