Al Frank Bets on United Online: Five Spot

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (TheStreet) -- John Buckingham, co-manager of the Al Frank Fund(VALUX Quote), is betting on lesser-known technology names like United Online(UNTD Quote) as the economy begins to lift.

The mutual fund has risen 24% this year, 8 percentage points better than the S&P 500 Index. Over the past decade, the Al Frank Fund has returned an average of 9.2% a year, better than 95% of its Morningstar(MORN Quote) peers.

Welcome to TheStreet.com's Fund Manager Five Spot, where America's top mutual fund managers give their best stock picks in five fast and furious questions.

Are you bullish or bearish?

Buckingham:Provided one has a longer-term investment time horizon, I am bullish. Certainly, the chances are high that the markets will retrace some of the near-vertical advance that has taken the average stock up more than 50% from the lows. And we are not ready to declare the Great Recession over, but just in the last couple of weeks we've seen improvement in the index of leading economic indicators, GDP growth, the Federal Reserve's "beige book" of economic conditions and the jobless picture.

The economic outlook is becoming much less worse, even as many pundits are projecting only a modest, short-lived recovery with another leg down to follow as part of a "W-shaped" scenario. Still, there has been a long period of reduced capital investment by corporate America and the increased consumer savings rate has created pent up demand that should ultimately prove a boost to numerous businesses.

There's $3.6 trillion sitting in money market funds yielding next to nothing, corporate earnings have been coming in better than expected as cost-cutting efforts have improved margins and many investors seem underweight equities in their asset allocation models, so we're optimistic about the equity markets in general and the stocks we hold.