Medium-sized companies offer an attractive combination of financial stability and substantial growth potential. However, discovering such names calls for a profound understanding of a number of industries and sectors. At the helm of the Huntington MidCorp America Fund, portfolio manager Christopher Rowane seeks to unearth companies that are leaders in their industry niches.

Frost Total Return Bond Fund looks for opportunities in bonds that they understand best. Portfolio manager Jeffery Elswick and his team select bonds based on both macro-economic views and careful selection of bonds offering relative value based on the anticipated direction of short- term and long- term rates.

As a varied and often under-followed segment of the global marketplace, emerging markets call for rigorous research and local knowledge of companies, economies and markets. Kirk Brown, portfolio manager of the American Beacon Emerging Markets Fund, exploits opportunities in these markets with the help of two investment managers employing strict value discipline.

Investing in small cap companies demands discipline and a detailed understanding of the company business model and industry dynamics. Fund manager Jason Ronovech looks for opportunities where the market is overly negative, with a short-term bias creating a valuation discount. Then, he focuses his analysis on the probability of company management successfully executing their strategy to enhance shareholder value.

Large companies that are good at allocating capital are generally known to have sustainable earnings and cash flow growth rates. At Jacob Wisdom Fund, portfolio manager Francis J. Alexander scours the large-cap equity universe to find companies that have business models with a stable customer base and experienced management as prerequisites for delivering sustained returns on capital.

Mid-cap companies possess the appealing blend of growth opportunities inherent in smaller companies and financial stability associated with large-cap companies. Mark Dawson and the equity team at Rainier follow a disciplined approach to find companies in this space with stable and rising earnings to generate healthy returns.

Multi-manager funds typically have serious advantages when it comes to diversification and risk allocation. Portfolio manager Adriana Posada explains how the American Beacon Small Cap Value Fund harnesses the talent of five different managers to blend investment strategies that are closest to the fund’s investment philosophy.