(MONEY Magazine) – TALK ABOUT A HIDDEN GEM. Pelican's managers don't court media attention. But this small fund (only $117 million in assets) has been quietly beating the pants off the competition for the past 10 years, landing consistently in the top quartile of large-cap value funds. So why haven't you heard about it before? Its owner, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo of Boston, primarily runs money for large institutions--including Vanguard. Pelican is GMO's sole retail fund.

Ed Choi and Dick Dahlberg are traditional value managers who like to buy large companies that are selling cheaply and hold on, typically, for two to three years. "At a certain price, anything can represent value," Choi says. "Coca-Cola at the right price can represent value. U.S. Steel at the wrong price may not."

That said, the duo has been venturing into traditional growth territory recently and buying up shares of drug stocks like Merck, Schering-Plough and Bristol-Myers Squibb, which have plummeted because of worries about patent expirations and shrinking pipelines. "We know what these companies are worth," says Choi. --ILANA POLYAK