10 Questions With Merrill Lynch Fundamental Growth's Larry Fuller

Finally, a growth manager who admits he gave up on tech but is nibbling now.

Manager : Larry Fuller

Fund: (MAFGX Quote)Merrill Lynch Fundamental Growth

Managed Since: Oct. 21, 1994 [inception]

Assets: $5.5 billion

1-Year Return/Ranking: - 32.9%/Beats 72% of peers

3-Year Annualized Return/Ranking: 8.4%/Beats 82% of peers

5-Year Annualized Return/Ranking: 16.2%/Beats 88% of peers

Sales Charge/Annual Expenses: 5.25%/0.76%*

Top-Three Holdings: General Electric(GE Quote) Pfizer(PFE Quote) America Online Time Warner(AOL Quote)

*Using Class A shares as an example. Source: Merrill Lynch and Morningstar. Returns and rankings through March 23.

You might not know Larry Fuller's name, but his track record and recent moves merit some attention. Like most growth managers he loaded up on tech stocks last year until they made up nearly half of the broker-sold (MAFGX Quote)Merrill Lynch Fundamental Growth fund's portfolio. But he threw in the towel when a slowing economy started eating into tech shops' earnings and puncturing their lofty valuations. At the end of February he had less than 3% of the fund's money in tech, and though he's taken a beating with his peers, he hasn't fallen as far and beats them over the past five years.

In the past two weeks he has started to slowly buy shares of tech companies again, but only selectively. What's he buying and why is he starting to buy now? Read on. ...