Best of 10 Questions: On Cisco, on Tyco! On SunGard and Nextel!

We're on the cusp of a new investing year -- thank God.

After three years of negative market returns, fund managers in recent weeks have been sounding notes of cautious optimism -- if not about the broad market, at least for certain pockets. Since many investors are taking part of this holiday week to hunker down with their portfolios, we decided to revisit some highlights from our weekly 10 Questions of the past few months.

In these interviews, we talked with some of the sharpest mutual fund managers in the business about where they think the markets, the economy and certain stocks are heading -- and how they are investing. Readers sampling the following excepts will have plenty of stock tips to chew over. But do your research first; don't just take a fund manager's word. More important, readers might want to take a closer look at these funds: All of them have managed to outperform their peers over the long haul.

Ralph Wanger, skipper of the top-shelf (ACRNX Quote - Cramer on ACRNX - Stock Picks)Liberty Acorn fund since 1970, has amassed a phenomenal record by spotting small-cap companies poised for growth, scooping them up early and letting them ride. In our 10 Questions -- click here to read the entire Dec. 2 interview -- we asked Wanger for his thoughts on the market generally and the tech sector specifically.

Wanger: I believe we are in one giant trading range. The S&P 500 can trade as low as 600 on the downside and as high as 1500 on the upside. I think we will be in this trading range for a minimum of another five years. Along those five years, we will experience lots of vigorous swings, but no particular overall trends.

This market reminds me of two other periods. One was 1969 to 1981, in which the market made a lot of moves, but ended up pretty much where it started. The other was 1930 to 1954, which was marked by similar swings. In this market, it will be a little more difficult for amateurs to make money, but good companies will continue to perform well.

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