Great Small/Micro Cap Managers/Strategies

Jan 4, 2011 5:36 pm

If you have any ideas, thoughts, suggestions please let me know.

The 1970s were a period of time where the small caps performed well, while large caps floundered. Check out the charts. I personally believe we're in the same cycle, so I've been expanding on small cap since the summer of 2009. 

I've done the I shares Russell 2000 etf accounts, and I've been doing a decent amount of biz with Royce, a division of Legg Mason. I like Royce because they seem very, very old school, and they only do micro to mids. So far, not disappointed, but I'm also look for more ideas. My favorite Royce fund has been their Opportunities fund, consultant class shares. They do not have traditional a or b shares, only the c shares.

If small and micro cap are going to outperform, I'd think the IPO market would be an important place to be looking for a manager too. Kind of an innovation from the ashes thing... 

Jan 4, 2011 7:45 pm

Buffalo had a really good small cap fund but I have not used it in a long time

Jan 4, 2011 7:58 pm

I transferred in a Janus Perkins fund recently that looked pretty good.   I don't typically do any biz with Janus, but that one seemed to be one to hold. 

Jan 5, 2011 2:54 am

BFP - Take a look at Catalyst Funds. I haven't used them but i am considering it.

Jan 5, 2011 3:13 pm

inoax

Jan 5, 2011 6:09 pm

Didn't know it, but apparently I Shares has a micro etf, IWC. 1000 holdings, all less than 1b mkt cap, median cap is under 200m. Only a 460m mkt cap on that fund. They don't do any pinksheets stuff, rebalance annually. Exp ratio of 60 bps.

Credit Suisse on CNBC today brought up a topic that I hadn't really been thinking too much about, but M/A activity in the really small side should be red hot for a few years.

An interesting thing to do, is to take the nasdaq and dow, over 5 yrs, using Yahoo's interactive charts. Pull one up, then enter the other as a comparison. Then drag that 5 yr period as far back as you can go, to present day. Clearly, there are periods of severe performance difference between the two. 1990-1995, large caps dominated, then from 1995 to 2000 small caps went on a tear, then again reversed. And so it goes...