CHARLES DREIFUS

Portfolio Manager

Royce Special Equity Multi-Cap Fund

This weekend is the start of two weekend fund-raising drives on public television so WEALTHTRACK might be pre-empted in your local market. Consequently we are replaying a Great Investor interview we originally aired in January. We always check with our guests before we do this and the Royce Fund’s Special Equity funds’ portfolio manager, Charlie Dreifus told us the interview still represents his current thinking. 

Just in case there were any nuances we should be aware of, we did an audio podcast with him this afternoon, while he was in the Munich airport after visiting international clients. They wanted to know his current views of the U.S. market and so did we. The headline is he is still very bullish. He will elaborate on the webcast which is available on wealthtrack.com to PREMIUM subscribers tonight and everyone else in our EXTRA feature starting this weekend. 

They say the best things come in small packages and that has certainly been the case in the stock market in recent years. Over the last decade small company stocks have outperformed large company ones by a significant margin, delivering 10.4 % annualized returns versus 7.1% annualized returns for large-cap ones.  

Since the market bottom of 2009 small-caps have also led, as they did last year. The Russell 2000 index, considered the benchmark for small stocks, advanced 38.8% in 2013, whereas the widely followed S&P 500 lagged with a not-too-shabby 32.4% return. 

Five years into a bull market where are the best values to be found? That is a question this week’s guest asks himself every day. Three years ago his answer caused him to expand his long-time concentration in small company stocks to include large ones as well. 

For the past 16 years Charlie Dreifus has been recognized for managing the Royce Special Equity Fund, a value-oriented small and micro-cap fund that has beaten its benchmark Russell 2000 index since inception, with less than market volatility. In 2010 Dreifus launched another value fund, but this one was not in small-caps and never will be. It is the Royce Special Equity Multi-Cap Fund and it is emphasizing large-cap stocks right now. It has also beaten its benchmark, the Russell 1000 since its inception three years ago. 

Dreifus will tell us why he wanted to go into big company stocks and why they remain his asset class of choice. 

Also, in the WEALTHTRACK WOMEN series on our website our panel of financial advisors is focusing on the financial issues facing divorced women. There are several key ones, including the hidden costs of divorce that could affect divorce agreements and financial  planning.   

Have a lovely weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and productive one.

Best Regards,    

Consuelo

No Action Point this episode.

No One Investment this episode.

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CHARLES DREIFUS – A SMALL CAP INVESTOR THINKS BIG

Posted on January 24, 2014

A WEALTHTRACK Great Investor who has made his name investing in small company stocks explains why he now favors large companies. Charlie Dreifus, the portfolio manager of the Royce Special Equity funds discusses why big is better in today’s markets.

WATCH NOW… JANUARY 01, 2010

Dreifus was named Morningstar’s Domestic-Stock Fund Manager of the Year in 2008 and was just selected as a finalist for its Domestic Equity Fund Manager of the Decade award. Dreifus will discuss how he chooses the companies he invests in and the outlook for small cap stocks.