Fundsters looking for value bets and steady returns may want to check out today's Wall Street Journal Fund Track article, which profiles Kevin Toney, portfolio manager of American Century Mid Cap Value Fund [see profile].

Toney reportedly looks for companies with problems that aren't deal breakers. For example: the fund's portfolio includes Republic Services Inc., a waste-management company whose stock, down about 0.6% year-to-date, has struggled because of concerns about its recent merger with Allied Waste. He also likes cereral concern Kellogg Co., which had a June recall of some boxes of cereal that were emitting a nauseating smell related to a package liner.

Morningstar senior mutual fund analyst Gregg Wolper told the pub that investors can be content with the fund's smaller advances when the market rallies, given that losses during stock-market swoons are much less severe.

Year-to-date, the $1 billion fund is reportedly up 11.4 percent, outperforming the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index by two percentage points but underperforming its midcap-value category by about 3.2 points, according to Morningstar.  

Edited by: Hung Tran


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