The Janus perspective..........300bil invested, 47% tech weighting.......hmmmmm the 300 bil represents around 6% of the entire equity market. As Janus moves out of a position they can't help but kill the stock......reducing their portofolio value in the process........wonder what happens if they get hit with redemptions????? An example why valuations look so good when a stock is going out of favor.
Can anyone say "How do you catch a falling knief"?
mad2
BTW The former head investment guy, Jim Craig who left in Sept and cashed out for $78 mil.......I think he knows what he's doing.
interactive.wsj.com@2.cgi?mad2/text/wsjie/data/SB974413874768142752.djm/&d2hconverter=display-d2h&NVP=&template=atlas-srch-searchrecent-nf.tmpl&form=atlas-srch-searchrecent-nf.html&from-and=AND&to-and=AND&sort=Article-Doc-Date+desc&qand=&bool_query=janus&dbname=%26name1%3Ddbname%26name2%3Ddbname%26name3%3Ddbname%26period%3D%3A720&location=MAIN-HED&HI=
November 17, 2000
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Janus Keeps Tech Stocks
Despite Industry Slump
By AARON LUCCHETTI
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Janus Capital Corp., the Denver mutual-fund company that rode fast-growing technology companies to huge gains in the 1990s, hasn't lost the faith.
The fund firm, with about $300 billion under management, is holding strong to its big commitment to technology investing, despite the harrowing drop in many tech-related issues since March, according to Janus's latest list of stock holdings filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
An analysis of the Janus holdings by fund-tracker Morningstar Inc. shows that Janus funds had 47.3% of their combined assets invested in technology stocks as of Sept. 30, up from 46.7% at the end of June. During the quarter, Janus bulked up on its stakes in some of its largest tech-stock holdings, including Cisco Systems Inc., Exodus Communications Inc., Nokia Corp. JDS Uniphase Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp.
But while Janus expanded its holdings in some technology stocks, it sharply reduced its holdings in others, including some issues tied closely to personal computers. According to the filing, Janus sold its 12.6 million shares of Dell Computer Corp. that were valued at about $620 million at the end of the second quarter. The firm also reduced its allocation to software giant Microsoft Corp. to 12 million shares from 20.6 million shares and its position in Intel Corp. to 1.1 million shares from a split-adjusted 1.3 million shares at the end of the second quarter.
While Janus, the nation's fifth-largest fund company in terms of assets under management, hasn't performed well in 2000, with investment returns for the vast majority of its portfolios down for the year, its managers have established stellar long-term track records, thanks to their big gains in the 1990s. Because the company likes to take large, concentrated positions in fast-growing companies, shifts in its portfolios are watched closely by many investors.
Separately this week, Janus's majority owner, Stilwell Financial Inc., said that former Janus Chief Investment Officer Jim Craig received $78 million in exchange for his small stake in the fund firm. Mr. Craig sold his stake after departing Janus in September to manage money for a new charitable foundation, but the amount he received hadn't been disclosed previously.
As Mr. Craig was preparing to leave Janus during the third quarter, the fund firm made some aggressive purchases in financial-services companies, buying about $1.1 billion in shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., $32.7 million in J.P. Morgan & Co., and $32.1 million in insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Cos. All three were new positions in Janus-managed mutual funds and private accounts.
Janus maintained large positions in Merrill Lynch & Co, and Charles Schwab Corp., and its overall weighting in financial stocks increased to 7.3% from 6% at the end of the second quarter, according to Morningstar.
Janus managers were also shopping for some retailing stocks, boosting retail stocks to about 3.1% of assets from 2.5%, according to the Morningstar analysis. Gap Inc., which sells the type of casual clothing that Janus managers prefer in the office, soared in Janus portfolios to 63.7 million shares from 11.3 million shares at the end of the second quarter.
Janus bulked up on airplane maker Boeing Co., beaten down telephone-equipment stock Lucent Technologies Inc. and hand-held device companies Handspring Inc. and Palm Inc. during the quarter.
Like many professional investors, Janus sifted through its Internet holdings in recent months, getting rid of what it considered weaker companies and adjusting positions in some of its other big names. The firm reduced its stake in Yahoo! Inc. and sold a bit of its giant stake in America Online Inc. It added to its stakes in online retailer Amazon.com Inc. and auctioneer eBay Inc.
Overall, the firm's largest holdings changed little from the second quarter. Nokia, Cisco Systems, Time Warner Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc., EMC Corp., General Electric Co., VeriSign Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and American Express Co. remained among Janus's biggest positions.
"I was surprised at how much stayed the same" with Janus's holdings, said Christine Benz, an analyst with Morningstar. "Some of these stocks endured a sell-off, and they're still standing pat," she said of Janus.
Write to Aaron Lucchetti at aaron.lucchetti@wsj.com
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