To: stockman_scott who wrote (63192 ) 9/2/1998 10:07:00 AM From: Mohan Marette Read Replies (1) | Respond to
How JANUS 20 is weathering the storm-Must read if you'all missed it.How Janus 20 Is Weathering Wall Street's Wild Ride PAUL KANGAS: The current market volatility, many investors are looking for a growth mutual fund that can show consistent performance. And few growth funds can match either the short or long term records of the Janus 20 Fund. Even after yesterday's sell-off, Janus 20 was still up almost 21 percent for the first SCOTT SCHOELZEL, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, JANUS 20 FUND: Thanks, Paul, good to be here. KANGAS: As the name of your fund implies, you have your $10 billion or so in assets concentrated in just 20 to 30 stocks. Does that make you more or less vulnerable to market sell-offs like we saw yesterday? SCHOELZEL: Well, as long as those 20 or 30 stocks are diversified amongst four, five, six broad investment categories, we're no more volatile or less volatile than funds with a, you know ... KANGAS: How badly, how badly were you hurt yesterday, Scott? SCHOELZEL: It was down about a little over 8 percent, Paul. KANGAS: And what was your cash allocation at the time that happened? SCHOELZEL: We came into yesterday with about 12 percent of the fund in cash and long bonds. KANGAS: OK. So that's pretty high. Did you, how much do you have left after today? SCHOELZEL: It's about 10 1/2 percent. We spent about a-percent- and-a-half in the last two days. KANGAS: OK. And what did you buy? SCHOELZEL: The biggest purchases were, we added to our position in Dell Computer and Nokia (NOK.A), the Finnish telephone maker. KANGAS: OK. And so you don't feel that this is a full-blown bear market? SCHOELZEL: No, I really think that the 20 percent correction, or 20 to 30 percent, is essentially behind us. And we may retest the lows over time. But I think the bulk of the move on the down side is essentially behind us. KANGAS: What are your largest current holdings, Scott? SCHOELZEL: The largest holding in the fund is Dell Computer which is about 10 percent of the portfolio. Followed by Microsoft. And Cisco Systems. KANGAS: OK. Now, while you concentrate on individual companies rather than market timing, does the current market scare you at all? Do you think we're a little overvalued? SCHOELZEL: Well, certainly, you know, the volatility of the last six weeks causes great angst. And with what's going on politically around the world and economically, certainly, it makes you nervous. But we feel very confident in the fundamentals of the companies that we own in the portfolio. KANGAS: Well, do you think that investors should continue to expect the kind of returns they've had annually for the last four or five years? SCHOELZEL: Well, we've been doing an extraordinary time with the rates declining and inflation coming under control. Going from a budget surplus to a budget, budget deficit to a surplus. I think we're going to probably move more towards more normalizer turns, which are in the 8 to 10 percent range on an annual basis. KANGAS: Even though you've beaten that tremendously over the last 10 years, by double that, 20 percent, actually. SCHOELZEL: Well, we always like to surprise on the up side. KANGAS: Well, I wish you continued good luck, Scott. SCHOELZEL: Thank you very much. KANGAS: I've been speaking with Scott Schoelzel, portfolio manager of Janus 20 Fund.
