Janus Stands Pat in Volatile Market

Times are tough, but it looks like Janus is pretty much standing pat.

On Wednesday, the Denver growth shop reported its firmwide stock holdings to regulators -- every fund company has to report its funds' holdings to regulators quarterly. At first blush -- simply comparing the top holdings firmwide -- the changes are modest and few since the firm's June 30 holdings. Some investors may have expected more evasive action since the firm -- whose stock funds averaged more than an 80% gain in 1999 -- are underwater so far this year.

While the holdings are dated, this report is one of the few glimpses investors get at where the big and secretive shop, the nation's fifth-largest with more than $200 billion in its retail stock and bond funds, is bullish and bearish. For shareholders of Janus' funds, it's a look at where they're money is going. For stock investors, it's a hint at where one of the biggest and most aggressive growth shops is betting the farm.

Janus Faves If you lump all of Janus' stock funds together, here are their top-15 picks.
	% Portfolio	YTD Return
Nokia(NOK Quote)	5	-14.6
Time Warner(TWX Quote)	4.4	4.2
Cisco Systems(CSCO Quote)	4.3	-0.8
Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote)	3.5	21.4
EMC(EMC Quote)	3.2	58.6
General Electric(GE Quote)	2.9	2.3
VeriSign(VRSN Quote)	2.3	-37.6
Enron(ENE Quote)	2	79.3
Comcast(CMCSK Quote)	1.9	-24.7
America Online(AOL Quote)	1.8	-34.2
Texas Instruments(TXN Quote)	1.6	-5.4
Nortel Networks(NT Quote)	1.6	-22.4
Telefonos De Mexico(TMX Quote)	1.5	-9.8
American Express(AXP Quote)	1.5	3.4
Exodus Communications(EXDS Quote)	1.3	-32.3
Source: SEC Filings. Holdings through Sept. 30.

A look at the Janus top-15 holdings is more telling than with many other firms, because the firm's managers, many of whom shuttered their funds due to last year's steep inflows, tend to own many of the same stocks.

There was no jockeying between June 30 and Sept. 30 among the firm's top-six picks. Beyond that, the only changes were energy titan Enron(ENE Quote) and online security shop VeriSign(VRSN Quote) switching places and there was some shuffling toward the end of the top 15.

American Express(AXP Quote) moved up a couple of spots, with Nortel Networks(NT Quote) and Web site host Exodus Communications(EXDS Quote) vaulting into the top 15, replacing Veritas Software(VRTS Quote) and AT&T Liberty Media (LMG.A:NYSE).

Janus managers added about 5 million shares to their massive stake in wireless juggernaut Nokia(NOK Quote). Many investors will be intrigued to know that on Sept. 30 Janus funds still owned 15 million shares of online health concern WebMD(HLTH Quote) -- Janus managers bought those shares in a high-profile private transaction back in January for more than $60 a pop. On Wednesday, WebMD shares closed at $10.50.

While Janus' managers haven't been changing their diet too much, it's clear that their bent toward the tech, media and telecommunications (TMT) sector is a big bet vs. the more diversified S&P 500, commonly used as a yardstick to measure funds' performance.

In fact, a comparison of the top-10 stocks in Janus funds with the S&P 500 finds only two stocks in common -- General Electric(GE Quote) and Cisco Systems(CSCO Quote).

A Different Drummer Compare Janus' top-10 with the S&P 500 and you'll find little overlap.
Janus		S&P 500
	% Portfolio		% Portfolio
Nokia(NOK Quote)	5	General Electric(GE Quote)	4.3
Time Warner(TWX Quote)	4.4	Cisco Systems(CSCO Quote)	3
Cisco Systems(CSCO Quote)	4.3	Microsoft(MSFT Quote)	2.9
Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote)	3.5	ExxonMobil(XOM Quote)	2.5
EMC(EMC Quote)	3.2	Intel (INTC Quote)	2.4
General Electric(GE Quote)	2.9	Pfizer(PFE Quote)	2.2
VeriSign(VRSN Quote)	2.3	Citigroup(C Quote)	1.9
Enron(ENE Quote)	2	American International Group(AIG Quote)	1.8
Comcast(CMCSK Quote)	1.9	Merck(MRK Quote)	1.6
America Online(AOL Quote)	1.8	Wal-Mart(WMT Quote)	1.6
Source: SEC filings and Morningstar.