10 Questions With Berger Tech Dude Bill Schaff

Tech companies' fates are determined by a few geeks who draft tech budgets at big companies. Bill Schaff talks to those geeks. That's why you want to talk to Bill Schaff.

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In picking stocks for the (BINVX Quote)Berger Information Technology fund, Schaff follows one directive: Follow the money. A former engineer, he regularly talks to tech buyers at Fortune 100 companies, investing his shareholders' money in areas with the most corporate tech projects and in companies that are winning the most business.

Schaff's approach might sound simple, but it has led to solid gains. Sure, he's taken his licks during the past year like most of his peers, but he has also beaten his average competitor in each of the past three calendar years, according to Chicago fund tracker Morningstar. Unlike most tech specialists, Schaff isn't a cheerleader. He thinks the tech sector's recent rally is bunk because corporate tech budgets aren't going to grow until late next year. What's he buying? What's he avoiding? And when will companies open their wallets again? Read on.

1. Has corporate tech spending bottomed or started to rise?

I don't think it has bottomed, and that's what has me scratching my head at the recent rally. The market's doing whatever it's doing, and nothing I say is going to change that, but corporations are still belt-tightening according to everything I've seen and heard. They're pushing off everything to 2002 and further as they make their budgets. ...