Federated Fund to Seek Out 40 New Economy Stocks

Federated Investors introduced a concentrated, go-anywhere fund Tuesday that promises to hold 40 New Economy stocks.

The Federated New Economy fund will invest in U.S. stocks of any size and in any sector. It will focus, according to a company release, on companies that use new technologies to transform their business models to gain an edge over competitors or to accelerate earnings.

A company release warns that the 40-stock portfolio will be volatile, though not as volatile as a pure technology fund. However, the fund will have a "bias" in the beginning toward large-capitalization stocks, Federated says, and newer companies will need an operating history as well as ownership by "significant" public companies to be added to the portfolio.

J. Thomas Madden, Federated's chief investment officer, will co-manage the fund with Linda Duessel, who also manages Federated's $3.1 billion (LEIFX)Equity Income fund and co-manages the $1.3 billion (LBUTX)Utility fund. The Equity-Income fund ranks among the top 20% of funds in its category over one-, three- and five-year periods, according to Morningstar. The Utility fund, though, ranks near the bottom of its category over the same periods.

The broker-sold fund carries a 5.5% front-end sales charge on its class A shares, and deferred sales charges of 5.5% on class B shares and 1% on class C shares. Annual expenses are above 5% for all share classes, though Federated is waiving a portion of them for an indefinite period, so they will wind up ranging from 1.75% for class A shares to 2.5% for the other share classes.

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