Not everyone has lost money in this bloody bear market, which has cost the S&P 500 40% and the Nasdaq Composite a ghastly 75%. Aside from short-sellers and goldbugs, there's an elite corps of mutual funds that are in positive territory over these 28 months since the market carnage began in March 2000. Our heroes have a common theme: value investing. They didn't get swept up in Net-mania, and they have ridden once-unloved companies to gratifyingly comfortable profitability. Charles Royce, for instance, was not long ago the butt of jokes, with his old-fashioned bow tie and his old-fashioned focus on solid companies with good track records (FORBES, Apr. 29). Well, who's laughing now? Royce's Total Return Fund has clocked an annual 13% gain since the market cracked. And it has done so with no sales load and a decent (1.24%) annual expense ratio, meaning his investors get to keep more of the fund's bounty.
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