Where Is Saul Pannell's 'Go Anywhere' Approach Leading Him?

A lot of managers can use their fund's mandate -- a tech-sector fund for example, as an excuse for lousy performance. Saul Pannell doesn't have such an excuse. And he doesn't need one, either.

Pannell, manager of the (ITHAX Quote)Hartford Capital Appreciation fund, has a "go anywhere" mandate: He can invest in big companies or small companies, "growth" companies or "value" companies, domestic or international companies. The primary goal: finding stocks that look poised to rise 25% in the next months.

His savvy investing -- aided by his research colleagues at Wellington Management -- has put investors in Hartford Capital Appreciation in good stead. Not only has Pannell managed to pull off the feat of notching positive returns in 1999 and 2000 -- up 66.8% and 8.4%, respectively -- he has also led the fund to a five-year average annual return of 6.2%, putting him in the top 9% of his category (Morningstar officially puts him in the mid-cap growth category, but it's tough to assign a label to Pannell). ...