Ticker: SGROX
Assets: $7 billion
U.S. large growth average: 0.25%
Year-to-date return: 13.2%
What they like now: Whole Foods
Ognar loves the upscale grocer's growth potential: He thinks it could expand from 300 stores in the U.S. now to 900 or 1,000 in a decade.
Tom Ognar doesn't care much about appearances, at least when it comes to office space. He runs his fund out of a modest space in a sleepy suburb of Milwaukee. "Our real estate cost is probably the lowest in the industry," he jokes. What he's obsessed with is finding high-growth companies that investors are underestimating. From their cubicles, Ognar, 41, and his two co-managers spend their days running screens and debating stocks. One winner they picked this year was railroad operator Kansas City Southern, which leaped 42% through November on strong earnings growth. Apple is the fund's largest holding and was a big driver of this year's gains. The tech giant boosted earnings 54% in the latest quarter. Ognar thinks iPhone sales will grow 20% to 25% in 2012. He can't believe the stock is selling for just 10 times next year's projected earnings. "That's pricing in almost no growth," says Ognar.
Times are uncertain. Reliability and income matter more than ever. These undervalued names offer stability.
