Although financial markets are inherently fragile, companies that provide improving customer experience through positive change are bound to generate wealth for shareholders. Philip Nordhus, portfolio manager of the Principal SmallCap Fund, and a team of analysts look to identify early on companies with such characteristics and with the potential to

As disruptive change can create a new set of winners, shareholders can find it rewarding to invest early in such leaders with long secular trends. Alex Ely, portfolio manager of the Delaware Smid Cap Growth Fund, and a team of analysts follow a disciplined process to identify a list of

While most dividend strategies focus on the same pool of large-cap companies, the FAM Dividend Focus Fund takes a different approach, with more exposure to the mid-cap space, where companies and dividends tend to grow faster. Running a concentrated portfolio of only about 30 names, fund manager Paul Hogan stresses

Managing a concentrated portfolio requires high conviction in the stock selection. James Golan, co-portfolio manager of the William Blair Large Cap Growth Fund, emphasizes quality growth, industry knowledge, and a deep analytical mindset. The fund aims to invest in companies with structural advantages over the next three to five years,

Investing in mortgage securities is unique because of highly individualized cash flows and risks associated with prepayments. A proper analysis of such securities invariably requires infrastructure as well as professionals with deep knowledge of the investment space. Mitch Flack explains how the portfolio team at the TCW Total Return Bond

With a focus and expertise in domestic credit markets, Pacific Funds Strategic Income Fund represents a highly selective, multi-sector strategy that invests primarily in high yield bonds, investment grade bonds, and bank loans. Portfolio manager Brian Robertson relies on extensive fundamental research and the experience of his team to run

Investing in securities with staying power over a wide range of economic outcomes is an ambitious goal, but George Jikovski, manager of River Canyon Total Return Bond Fund, believes he has the system, the process, the team and the expertise to pursue it. The fund focuses on the public fixed

With a high-conviction portfolio of approximately 50 stocks, Matthew Weatherbie, George Dai and Joshua Bennett, managers of Alger SMid Cap Focus Fund, believe they have found the right spot to benefit from diversification, while concentrating on their best ideas. Specializing in smaller cap growth stocks, an under-researched part of the

Michael Smith, the manager of Wells Fargo Enterprise Fund, believes in the power of long-term compounding. The fund invests only in companies on the right side of change, or businesses that are able to grow through increasing their customer base, their prices or their offering. Focused

With high transparency, liquidity and above-average total returns, REITs have a place in every diversified portfolio, according to Jay Leupp, portfolio manager of Lazard US Realty Equity Portfolio. The fund team maintains a concentrated portfolio diversified across property types and regions.