Putnam's Reopened New Opportunities Will Close Again

Just ten days after reopening to new investors, the $32 billion Putnam (PNOPX)New Opportunities fund is set to close its doors again at the close of business Friday.

Putnam, the Boston-based fund giant, promised to close the broker-sold fund again after taking in an additional $1 billion in sales, and $800 million has already gushed in, according to a Putnam spokesman.

Dan Miller has managed the fund since its 1990 inception, picking up co-managers Jeffrey Lindsey in 1998 and Ken Lang this year. The solid sales show brokers' taste for Miller's stock-picking. The fund had been closed to new investors since June 1997.

While the fund does have a solid record in 1990s, its size has caused a few blemishes along the way. The fund started out as a hot small-cap growth fund, routinely trouncing its peers. But a flood of assets forced the fund to graduate to larger-cap stocks.

Over the past one-, three-, and five-year periods the fund has posted average annual returns of 75.6%, 37.4%, and 34.2%, respectively. Each beats more than 85% of large-cap growth funds, according to Morningstar. But the fund experienced growing pains from 1996 to 1998, when it trailed both its peers and the S&P 500 index.

Brokers are also supporting Putnam New Century Growth, a high-octane fund launched last week with a 65% technology weighting and a 150% 1999 return earned in incubation (available only to Putnam employees). The new fund, managed by Charles Swanberg and Roland Gillis, already has taken in $100 million and is also set to close at $1 billion in sales.

If you want shares of New Opportunities there's no reason to panic: Closed funds are rarely truly closed. After Friday, New Opportunities will continue to be available to participants in 401(k) plans and new investors as long as they invest a set amount each month.

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