The Daily Screen: Mid-Cap Growth Funds With Steady Leadership

Sure, a lot of mid-cap growth funds are sporting solid long-term records, but let's focus on funds where the current manager is responsible for those numbers.

The Daily Screen usually sifts a different fund category each day for those funds that beat their average peer over the last one- and three-year periods. But this week, we're adding manager tenure to our criteria. Given this year's turmoil, it's probably a good idea to shop for funds whose managers have seen a rough patch or two. We're zeroing in on mid-cap growth funds, which typically invest in stocks of companies with market caps between $1.5 billion and $9 billion, with a serious bent toward pricey sectors like technology.

Mid-cap stocks were in the sweet spot of the market just a short while ago, but now it seems the tech/telecom selloff has reached their ranks, too. The average mid-cap growth fund is down 1.1%, which isn't bad compared with the S&P 500's 5.8% slide. Over the past few years investors have focused their attention on big-cap growth stocks, but mid-cap stocks are worth a look too because they offer solid long-term growth prospects.

Not Exactly Growth But ... The average mid-cap growth fund is in the red for 2000, but the group has held up better than the broader market this year
	Avg. Mid-Cap Growth fund	S&P 500
YTD Return	-1.1%	-5.8%
1-Year Return	8.8	-1.3
5-Year Return	19.6	19.2
10-Year Return	17.9	18.0
Source: Morningstar. Annualized performance figures through Dec. 11.

If you're looking for a mid-cap growth fund whose manager isn't wet behind the ears, we've started the process for you. We screened 230-fund category for those funds that beat their average peer this year and over the last three- and five-year periods with the same manager at the helm. Only 17 funds made the cut; here's a top-10 list, ranked by their year-to-date returns.

Above-Average Returns, Above- Average Tenure Here are some mid- cap growth offerings with solid returns and steady leadership
Fund	Year-to-Date Return	5-Year Annualized	Mgr. Tenure
(CVGRX Quote)Calamos Growth A	29.8%	38.6%	8 years
(POGSX Quote)Pin Oak Aggressive Stock	17.2	30.4	8
(ALMRX Quote)Alger Mid Cap Growth Retirement	16.7	25.9	6
(BRAGX Quote)Bridgeway Aggressive Growth	16.6	36.7	6
(SNTNX Quote)Sentinel Mid Cap Growth A	15.0	23.9	7
(WAEGX Quote)Citizens Emerging Growth	14.8	30.8	6
(SSMGX Quote)Sit Small Cap Growth	12.8	24.8	6
(ADEGX Quote)Advance Capital I Equity	12.7	22.0	8
(WALLX Quote)Wall Street	12.2	21.7	16
(DRMCX Quote)Dresdner RCM Mid Cap	8.6	23.4	7
Avg. Mid Cap Growth fund	-1.1	19.6	2.3
S&P 500	-5.8	19.2	-
Source: Morningstar. Annualized performance figures through Dec. 11.

We've also screened these 10 leading funds to see what stocks their managers are betting on these days, but first let's look at the funds.

If you work with a broker, check out broker-sold chart-topper (CVGRX Quote)Calamos Growth, where manager John Calamos ( see our interview with him) has quietly built one of the category's most enviable records. The fund beats more than 90% of its peers over the last one-, three- and five-year periods, according to Morningstar.

A knock on the fund is its high annual expense ratio, 2%, compared with its peers' 1.56% average.

The no-load runner-up, (POGSX Quote)Pin Oak Aggressive Stock, stands out, too. Co-managers James Oelschlager, Donna Barton and Douglas MacKay have run the fund since its 1992 inception. The fund is risky -- holding just 25 or so stocks -- and had a 90% tech-stock weighting on Sept. 30. But if you're looking for a tech fund or a tech-heavy mid-cap fund, this is a good option.

In addition to the other funds on our list, you might consider the no-load (FIDYX Quote)Invesco Dynamics fund where lead manager Tim Miller has held the reins since 1993. The tech-heavy fund beats its average peer over the last one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods, according to Morningstar.

As you might imagine, most mid-cap growth funds typically have a big tech appetite. In fact, the average mid-cap growth fund has some 45% of its money invested in the sector. That techy streak is confirmed by a screen of these 10 leading funds' top-10 cumulative stock picks.

The list kicks off with three big-cap tech names that most growth managers are riding these days: networker JDS Uniphase(JDSU Quote), chip shop PMC Sierra(PMCS Quote) and data storage firm Network Appliance(NTAP Quote). The trio is up 57% this year, on average.

Under the Hood The stocks with the biggest weighting in the combined portfolios of the 10 above funds
Stock	Weighting in Top- Ten Funds	Number of Top-Ten Funds Owning the Stock
JDS Uniphase(JDSU Quote)	1.7%	6
PMC Sierra(PMCS Quote)	1.3	5
Network Appliance(NTAP Quote)	1.2	5
VeriSign(VRSN Quote)	1.1	3
Juniper Net(JNPR Quote)	1.1	5
Atmel(ATML Quote)	1.1	4
Vitesse Semicon(VTSS Quote)	1.1	5
Timberland CI A(TBL Quote)	1.0	1
Linear Tech(LLTC Quote)	0.9	4
Millipore(MIL Quote)	0.8	3
Source: Morningstar. Holdings as of funds' most recent portfolio reports.