NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - For more than a decade, investors have been able to play broad investment trends.

Small-caps ruled, then big consumer companies, then it was tech tech tech, then it was REITs and bonds. But since last spring, any trend that has worked hasn't worked for very long. Stocks can't seem to get a tailwind, cash is a sucker bet, and most bonds are yielding pocket change. What do you do with your money in a trendless market?

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You might consider giving some of it to fund managers who are free to invest pretty much anywhere they see opportunity. There aren't many such "go anywhere" managers around these days: Mutual funds have become increasingly focused on single investment themes, like large-cap value or energy stocks or real estate. But we tracked down five of the best with solid, often stellar, long-term performance records.

All of these managers can buy bonds and stocks of any size and most of them can hold cash and short stocks (betting that their prices will go down). Despite those broad mandates, all the managers have distinct investing styles, and it's worth understanding those styles if you want to fit one or more of these funds into your portfolio.

Throughout much of the long bull market, the Clipper fund was famous for its large cash position. Its portfolio tends to tilt decidedly toward big, established companies, often in the financial sector, and managers are happy to hold cash and Treasury bonds when stocks look pricey.

Finding the Right Themes These five funds hunt all around Fund (TICKER) Phone  Three-year return*  What are they buying  CGM Focus (CGMFX) 800-345-4048  27.8%  Home builders and car dealerships  Clipper (CFIMX) 800-776-5030  12.8  Big drug firms and headline plays  FPA Crescent (FPACX)  800-982-4372 14.2  Retailers and makers of natural-gas rigs  Leuthold Core Investment (LCORX) 800-273-6886  1.9  Emerging Asia and junk bonds  Muhlenkamp (MUHLX) 800-860-3863  3.2  Home builders and RV makers   * Annualized through Jan. 29  Source:  Morningstar

The apparent stodginess, the bargain-hunting tendencies and the willingness to sit on the sidelines held the fund back in the boom years of the late 1990s. That orientation, however, paid big dividends over time: When the S&P 500 took a nosedive in 2000, Clipper was up a whopping 37 percent, and it has turned in double-digit gains nearly every year since 1991.

Investors familiar with Clipper's history might raise an eyebrow at its current portfolio. More than 90 percent of assets are in stocks -- the fund's largest equity position in eight years -- and though almost all of it is invested in large pharmaceutical companies and Clipper's familiar financial names, the fund's top holding is scandal-plagued Tyco International. Furthermore, the fund is sitting on a clutch of other stocks, including Tenet Healthcare (TNT: Research, Estimates), El Paso Corp (EP: Research, Estimates). and Electronic Data Systems (EDS: Research, Estimates), that, to put it charitably, are under a cloud.

Where's that traditional Clipper caution? "We think that the broad market is probably still somewhat overvalued," conceded co-manager Bruce Veaco. "We would not be buying the S&P 500. But we've been given multiple opportunities to invest in interesting companies at attractive prices. And we've been given those opportunities because of the scandals and the uncertainty they produce."

Like Clipper, FPA Crescent flourished in 2000 and 2001, when it returned 3.6 percent and 36 percent, respectively, thanks to a fat cash cushion and a savvy bet on small retail stocks. Manager Steve Romick shares the Clipper gang's cost-consciousness, taste for cash, and willingness to bet on controversial names.

One of Romick's largest positions, for example, is in Qwest Capital Funding, a subsidiary of Qwest Communications (Q: Research, Estimates), whose stock price collapsed last summer on concerns about a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and potential bankruptcy.

In general, however, Romick sees little to love in the stock market. At present, 24 percent of his fund is in cash, with another 11 percent in shorts. And he's investing not in the stock of scandal-ridden companies, but in their bonds.

Not surprisingly, those bonds are firmly in high-yield territory, made even higher by Romick's insistence on buying at prices well under the bonds' par value. He purchased Qwest bonds when their yield approached 19 percent on investor fears that the firm might enter bankruptcy.

Though the Qwest bonds and other junk debt he owns have jumped in price since Romick began buying, he still sees "a lot more value in high yield right now than in most equities." Is he concerned about the scandals? "Where there's fear," he says with a smile, "there's opportunity."

Steve Leuthold of Leuthold Core Investment isn't buying on scandal, but he is buying junk: Over the past year he has more than doubled his position in high-yield bonds. ("We only call them 'junk' bonds when we don't own 'em," he quipped.)

Simple math led to the decision. Junk was paying nearly double the yield available from investment-grade bonds. "This is close to the biggest spread that has ever existed," Leuthold enthused.

Junk bonds aren't the only dicey area in which Leuthold has found value. For example, his strong 23 percent return in 2000 was fueled in part by a bet on biotech stocks and a healthy short position, and his current equity stake -- recently boosted to 70 percent -- includes a chunk in emerging Asia.

However, when it comes to those scary sectors, Leuthold often invests via mutual funds rather than in individual securities, and the resulting diversification moderates the risk. He counts on the elaborate mathematical models he uses in devising his asset allocation to keep him clear of overpriced sectors that are poised for a fall.

You don't like the portfolio at CGM Focus? Then wait five minutes. Manager Ken Heebner is nearly as well known for his rapid-fire trading and tightly focused portfolio as he is for the impressive results they have produced, including staggering gains in 2000 and 2001. Much of the credit for those years goes to a huge short position in tech (56 percent of assets at the end of 2000) and a slightly less huge bet on the housing sector.

The shorts are long gone, as are the retail plays he liked last fall. "I was looking for a big Christmas," he said with a shrug. "Oh well."

He remains "incredibly bullish" on home builders, unfazed by mutterings about a bubble in prices. "There have been regional bubbles," he said, "and prices on luxury homes have gotten ahead of themselves. However, price appreciation on mid-level houses, say, the $250,000 range? They're right in line with the trends of the past 30 years."

Critically, Heebner is not anticipating any growth in the number of homes being built. His attraction to the sector is focused on a wave of consolidation transforming the industry, leaving the survivors more competitive and better managed. Trends toward consolidation also fuel his fondness for car dealerships and makers of mobile homes. "In a tough economy," said Heebner, "consolidation is where you get your growth."

Like Clipper, Muhlenkamp has a long record of impressive gains. The fund has returned more than 12 percent a year, on average, for the past decade. Those gains were often on the back of the financial sector.

Like Heebner, manager Ron Muhlenkamp is currently betting big on recreational-vehicle stocks, though his rationale is different. He likes them on the theory that baby boomers, after pouring all their disposable cash into the market for 10 years, are finally buying the big-ticket toys they crave.

Muhlenkamp relies on economic trends to guide his investment decisions. His 18 percent stake in housing, for example, is based not only on continued consolidation but on his analysis of the economic cycle. Such a quasi-academic approach can produce portfolios that work great on paper but not in practice. But Muhlenkamp's history of deft shifts -- including a fast move out of tech stocks in the spring of 2000 -- makes it clear that he's rooted in the real world.