Janus Has Changed for the Better

As someone who was an "early and often" critic of Janus (JNS - commentary - Cramer's Take), someone willing to risk a business relationship with the firm in order to say that it wasn't doing its job, I think it's important to be emphatic about my change of heart about the firm. Put simply: Janus has changed its culture, or perhaps more evidently, Janus has returned to its roots of great stock-picking with terrific research and fantastic timing.

Monday I wrote that Janus Twenty might be taking in new money and boosting its stocks and that the stocks it holds might go up in part because of that propulsion. That was wrong; Janus Twenty is closed and will remain closed. The top 10 stocks in Janus Twenty haven't changed this year. The position sizes haven't changed either, which means that the rise is the result strictly of great stock-picking, not augmenting by buying the stocks with new money. Nor has Janus gone back to that old way of buying up its stocks with other funds. There isn't that kind of overlap anymore. I regret any insinuation that Janus has been bidding up or may intend to bid up its own stocks because that's not how the team plays it.

The decision to keep Janus Twenty closed despite the huge performance of the fund is the single-biggest sign that the firm has changed and changed radically. When you have a hot fund that is closed and stays closed, that's a sign that you are committed to those who have stuck with you and remained loyal. That's terrific, too. It is particularly important that Janus Twenty is staying closed because it is about to lose a terrible quarter as part of its three-year record. With the departure of that quarter, it will get a much better three-year record to crow about. But Janus isn't doing it, though -- again, out of loyalty to those who have been with the fund.

I know that Janus made mistakes when it came to mutual fund timing. I know it made mistakes when it came to piling on momentum names. But the people who made those mistakes are gone. The new people who are running Janus are some of the absolute best professionals I have ever met in the business, and some of the holdovers were darned good, too, including the managers of Janus Twenty.

People change. Companies change. Janus has changed --for the better. I salute the changes and hope that its managers and shareholders prosper from these fantastic moves.

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James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS by clicking here. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to [e-mail]. Listen to Cramer's RealMoney Radio show on your computer; just click here. Click here to buy Cramer's latest book, "You Got Screwed!" Click here to order Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict."