Although large companies tend to be resourceful and flexible, that does not always translate into profitable investments. Sonu Kalra and his team of analysts at the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund are searching for companies capable of sustaining double-digit earnings growth that will reward long-term shareholders.

Gold is traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation driven by the general depreciation of fiat currencies in a world where most governments operate in deficit. However, investing in gold mining companies offers investors an avenue to seek leverage to rising gold prices through earnings and reserves in the ground.

With more than 3,000 companies in the small-cap market, a disciplined and focused investor prepared to conduct original research has an advantage. The portfolio managers at the Federated Kaufmann Small Cap Fund, supported by a stable team of in-house analysts, have a clear goal to invest in companies undergoing positive

The $1.6 trillion US high-yield bond market has matured in recent years as the quality of new issuance has steadily improved. Andrew Susser and his team of seasoned credit experts at the MainStay High Yield Corporate Bond Fund rely on deep fundamental research and a time-tested investment process to select

Companies generating excess cash are sound investment ideas, especially when management has a long-term track record of reinvesting free cash flow. Chris Pearson and George Smith, portfolio managers of the Davenport Equity Opportunities Fund, complement their concentrated and opportunistic approach with a rigorous research process that seeks to identify attractive

Good-quality companies, when purchased at a reasonable price to their long-term earnings capacity, can generate significant gains for shareholders. Over the last three decades, John W. Rogers, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments, has rarely wavered from this principle. With the additional support of a stable research team, he

A central tenant of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) is to combine assets with low correlations to maximize expected return for a given amount of risk. The Wilshire Small Cap Value Portfolio attempts to apply Modern Portfolio Theory, but at the asset class level. Portfolio manager Nathan Palmer focuses on finding

Jonas Svallin, Vice President and senior portfolio manager of the Schwab Small Cap Equity Fund, has a very clear goal: to provide investors with exposure to small caps at the right price. He relies on an investment approach that integrates a quantitative model with fundamental inputs, focusing on valuation and

Smid-cap funds offer the flexibility to hold on to small companies that are growing and delivering financial results as they move into the mid-cap market cap range. Dan Breslin and his team at the Lazard US Small-Mid Cap Equity Fund focus on this longer growth phase at a company level

As a portion of the market with very little analyst coverage, the micro-cap space abounds in companies that are generally underfollowed or misunderstood by many investors. Denis Amato, portfolio manager of the Ancora Microcap Fund, uses more than 25 years of experience in identifying companies with strong balance sheets and