Not all large companies possess the dynamic traits that investors would like to see in their holdings. Patrick Kelly and Alger’s team of Analysts help the Alger Spectra Fund look for companies that are undergoing a Positive Lifecycle Change (e.g regulatory change, new product introduction, management changes), or experiencing High Unit Volume Growth (growing demand, market dominance), and generating earnings to create wealth for investors.

Emerging markets used to be perceived as common entities that would go up and down together, but that is no longer the case. Hansberger’s Emerging Markets Fund utilizes specific knowledge of countries and companies to identify current and new industry and national leaders. Portfolio manager Francisco Alzuru and his team search for promising names with a sharp focus on price that they are willing to pay for these companies.

RS Growth strategies are based on a straightforward premise – sustainable earnings growth drives long-term stock prices and those companies that can deliver typically exhibit five characteristics: a competitive advantage, superior margins, gaining market share, strong organic revenue growth and a capable management team.

Small cap companies that generate average retuns on their capital may turn out to be good values as long as they are throwing off excess cash flows. Eric Cinnamond, portfolio manager of the Intrepid Small Cap Value Fund, utilizes the analysis of this free cash flow yield in his selection of steady businesses.

Fund managers often face constraints imposed by their own funds on market cap ranges they can invest in and benchmark indexes they need to follow. Conrad Herrmann and his team at Franklin Flex Cap Growth Fund focus on companies they believe can sustain growth because of their business models, quality of products and management capabilities, regardless of their market cap size and industry.

Sometimes it’s not enough for companies to simply have attractive earnings growth potential. The Artio US Smallcap Fund looks for companies that have the ability to generate excess free cash flow to sustain organic growth in sales and earnings or a turnaround of their consolidated operations. Led by Samuel Dedio, this small cap core fund seeks opportunities for growth and value in a broadly diversified portfolio, with normally between 40 and 70 individual companies.

Bond funds can generate excess return to their benchmark by taking views and risks in determining the direction of interest rate. Christopher Vincent, who is at the helm of the William Blair Bond Fund, talks about how to generate higher return through selection and allocation to bonds and sectors that are out of favor or mispriced in the market.

The long term investment strategy at Manning & Napier Equity Series Fund is focused on one company at a time. The fund looks for opportunties across the spectrum of market capitalization based on three strategies that evaluates durability of future growth, historical returns and valuation catalyst.

Investors looking to diversify beyond traditional long-only portfolios face a challenge in picking strategies and funds that provide consistent returns. Ronald Sugameli, portfolio manager of the New Century Alternative Strategies Portfolio (NCHPX), describes how strategies that exploit gains in rising commodities markets, falling equity values and industry consolidations can add risk adjusted returns to core holdings in one’s portfolio.

For certain funds, social and financial returns can be mutually exclusive, but that does not hold true for the Appleseed Fund. Joshua Strauss and his team look for companies that have sustainable earnings, trade significantly below their fair values, and have a low environmental impact. Through a team-oriented approach, the fund scours a limited universe of stocks to find the ones that meet its fundamental, valuation and sustainability criteria.