10 Questions With T. Rowe Price Growth Stock's Robert W. Smith

Click on the company name to jump to Smith's comments on the stock.

AOL Time Warner

Carnival

Cendant

Cisco

Citigroup

ClearChannel

Dell

Freddie Mac

General Electric

Target

Kohl's

Microsoft

Overture Services

Vodafone

Target

Tyco

Univision

USA Interactive

Yahoo!

For folks who have found growth investing has been a pretty expensive proposition the past few years, it might be time to look up Robert W. Smith.

The manager of the $3.425 billion (PRGFX Quote)T. Rowe Price Growth Stock fund has kept many investors from losing their shirts, in two key ways. First, Smith has taken a more conservative approach to growth than his brethren, which meant trailing his peers during the go-go late '90s.

But he has more than made up for it on the back end, ending 2000 on the upside and posting a modest loss in 2001 while other growth funds were free-falling.

His savvy picking puts the fund in the top 5% of his large-cap growth peers over a three-year period, and top 8% over the past 10 years. Second, because he gives his growth stocks time to grow, his less-frequent turnover has resulted in fund expenses that are half the size of its competitors.

In this week's 10 Questions, the skipper says he has been getting more aggressive lately, buying up "headline risk" stocks like Citigroup (C Quote) and Tyco (TYC Quote), media companies, even adding to big tech holdings like Cisco (CSCO Quote). He also talks about some of the sectors he's avoiding, as well as where he's sees the market and the economy.

Looking for growth that won't cost you your shirt? Read on. ...