Big and cheap.

Large-cap value funds hold the promise of future riches

The phrase "large-cap value stock" seems to be an oxymoron. After all, large-capitalization stocks usually aren't cheap, while value stocks are supposed to be inexpensive based on key measures such as their price-to-earnings ratio. The challenge facing portfolio managers who run large-cap value funds, then, is to balance buying large companies that are cheaper than their peers.

And according to market observers, it's a tricky high-wire act. The portfolios of professional investors who strayed from the standard definition of value did better than those who adhered rigidly to that style.

"Some of these managers have been referred to as the New Age value investors," says Scott Cooley, senior analyst at Morningstar, a Chicago mutual fund research firm. "There's been a lot of difference [in the performance] between those kinds of investors and those that focus on traditional value models"

Being a nouveau value investor and scooping up semi-conductor stocks when their prices were depressed helped senior portfolio manager Bret Stanley propel the $117 million AIM Basic Value Fund (Nasdaq: GTVLX) to the top tier of large-cap value funds.

"One of the big reasons we've outperformed other funds is we took advantage of the sell-off in semiconductor stocks," says Stanley. In fact, at one point the fund had about 15% of its assets in technology stocks, and 10% in semiconductor stocks alone.

Stanley says the fund also bought select oil services stocks when they were down, in particular drilling companies such as Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), Transocean Offshore (NYSE: BIG) and Ensco International (NYSE: ESV), expecting a rebound in that sector.

The AIM Basic Value fund achieved a cumulative year-to-date total return of 17.76%, far ahead of the average 4.77% return of other large-cap value funds, according to Morningstar.

Meanwhile, at least one unusual portfolio cracked the top tier of large-cap value funds: the $110 million Strong Dow 30 Value Fund (Nasdaq: SDOWX). It's essentially an enhanced index fund based on the Dow Jones industrial average, run by co-managers Charles Carlson and Richard Moroney.

Carlson explains that 50% of the fund is directly indexed to the Dow. The other half is actively managed, with certain stocks either overweighted or underweighted in the portfolio, depending on factors such as whether they make traditional value screens like dividend yield and price-to-earnings growth. For example, while Merck (NYSE: MRK) might not be considered a typical value stock, it has been beaten down, so its price relative to its future earnings potential makes it a less expensive drug company to own, he says.

In some cases, however, if a Dow stock is expensive but has good future earnings potential, they'll probably own it, Carlson says. Take Home Depot (NYSE: HD), one of the four stocks recently added to the Dow. Carlson says that at its current price, Home Depot "is not a good value but it has strong earnings growth, so you know you don't want to get in front of that train" or miss owning a fast-growing company. Naturally, when Dow Jones & Co. announced it was dropping four stocks and adding Home Depot, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC), Carlson and Moroney followed suit.

Carlson notes the fund is overweighted in Dow stocks such as Boeing (NYSE: BA), Citigroup (NYSE: C) and General Motors (NYSE: GM).

This combination of passive and active value management led the Strong Dow 30 Value Fund to a total return of 17.06%, higher than the average and keeping pace with the Dow industrials through October 31.

TOP 5 LARGE-CAP VALUE STOCK FUNDS

                                      Yr.-to-Date   1-Year
                                         Total      Total
Fund Name (Ticker)                     Return(*)    Return

Smith Barney Fundamental Value A        22.17%      33.84%
(SHFVX)

AIM Basic Value A                       17.76       25.61
(GTVLX)

Legg Mason Value                        17.58       42.77
(LMVTX)

ICAP Select Equity                      17.11       26.84
(ICSLX)

Strong Dow 30 Value                     17.06       24.69
(SDOWX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages      4.77       13.01

                                      3-year   5-year
                                      Total    Total
Fund Name (Ticker)                    Return   Return

Smith Barney Fundamental Value A      20.05%   19.36%
(SHFVX)

AIM Basic Value A                     17.07     N/A
(GTVLX)

Legg Mason Value                      37.47    35.26
(LMVTX)

ICAP Select Equity                     N/A      N/A
(ICSLX)

Strong Dow 30 Value                    N/A      N/A
(SDOWX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages   16.39    18.32

                                                      Minimum
                                       Toll-Free      Initial
Fund Name (Ticker)                      Numbers      Investment

Smith Barney Fundamental Value A      800-451-2010     $1,000
(SHFVX)

AIM Basic Value A                     800-347-4246        500
(GTVLX)

Legg Mason Value                      800-577-8589      1,000
(LMVTX)

ICAP Select Equity                    888-221-4227     10,000
(ICSLX)

Strong Dow 30 Value                   800-368-1030      2,500
(SDOWX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages

(*) Ranked by cumulative total return as of 10/31/99

Source: Morningstar Inc. (www.morningstar.com)

BOTTOM 5 LARGE-CAP VALUE STOCK FUNDS

                                      Yr.-to-Date   1-Year
                                         Total      Total
Fund Name (Ticker)                     Return(*)    Return

CRM Large Cap Value                      12.78      -6.01
(CRMLX)

Vontobel U.S. Value                      -9.68      -0.62
(VUSVX)

Kemper-Dreman High Return Equity A       -9.32      -4.95
(KDHAX)

Oakmark I                                -7.90      -7.87
(OAKMX)

Harris Insight Equity                    -7.36%      4.25%
(HIEQX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages       4.77      13.01

                                      3-Year   5-Year
                                      Total    Total
Fund Name (Ticker)                    Return   Return

CRM Large Cap Value                    N/A      N/A
(CRMLX)

Vontobel U.S. Value                   13.31    18.30
(VUSVX)

Kemper-Dreman High Return Equity A    12.37    18.81
(KDHAX)

Oakmark I                             10.57    14.18
(OAKMX)

Harris Insight Equity                 14.61%   18.15%
(HIEQX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages   16.39    18.32

                                                      Minimum
                                       Toll-Free      Initial
Fund Name (Ticker)                      Numbers      Investment

CRM Large Cap Value                   800-276-2883     10,000
(CRMLX)

Vontobel U.S. Value                   800-527-9500      1,000
(VUSVX)

Kemper-Dreman High Return Equity A    800-621-1048      1,000
(KDHAX)

Oakmark I                             800-625-6275      1,000
(OAKMX)

Harris Insight Equity                 800-982-8782     $1,000
(HIEQX)

Large-Cap Value Stock Fund Averages

(*) Ranked by cumulative total return as of 10/31/99

Source: Morningstar Inc. (www.morningstar.com)