Fidelity Reopens Two Top Mutual Funds

Fidelity gave investors an early Christmas present Tuesday when it announced two of its top mutual funds, Contrafund (FCNTX) and Low-Priced Stock (FLPSX), would reopen to new investors later this month. The offerings had been closed since 2006 and 2003, respectively.

These funds have been bright spots in what has been a lackluster lineup of late at the fund giant. While flagship funds like Magellan (FMAGX) have floundered, these two offerings have been consistent performers. Yes, Contrafund is down 41.3% this year and Low-Priced Stock 43.8%. But over the trailing decade Contrafund has returned an average annual 3.9% and Low-Priced Stock 7.4%. Those returns are good enough to put both in the top deciles of their respective categories. What’s more, they charge fees well below the industry average.

The reopenings continue a trend that has been playing out in the fund world all year. Fund managers have watched their asset bases shrink in 2008 due to stock picks gone awry during the credit crisis, redemptions or a combination of both. At the same time, those managers are encountering stocks trading at once-in-a-lifetime prices. If a manager of a closed fund isn't sitting on cash, he has two options to take advantage of the situation: sell existing positions or reopen to new money. Obviously, the latter scenario is the better call. Indeed, forced selling and redemptions can lead to tax implications for shareholders.

Fidelity's situation is a little different. While the funds have been impacted by the credit crisis, Fidelity says the bigger reason for allowing new investors to purchase shares is to counter the natural exodus of retiring Baby Boomers who are just starting to tap their nest eggs to pay for their living expenses. Contrafund and Low-Priced Stock get 88% and 85%, respectively, of their $66 billion assets from retirement accounts. That trend wasn't going to reverse itself even if performance picked back up. The only smart way to counter that phenomenon is to attract a new generation of shareholders.

Contrafund's Will Danoff and Low-Priced Stock's Joel Tillinghast are two of the industry's most well-regarded managers. The duo offers everything an investor would want in a manager: deep experience (both have been at the helm of their funds for almost 20 years); proven track records and disciplined strategies that have held up through thick and thin. We usually don't suggest jumping into a recently opened fund without considering a few caveats first. Fund companies can reopen a fund simply to attract assets (and the fees that come with them) without regard to existing shareholders. In this case, though, the low fees, long-term track records and the manager reputations make suggesting them as an investment option an easy call.

Danoff, Morningstar's 2007 domestic equity fund manager of the year, is arguably running the company's most prominent fund since Magellan (FMAGX) has fallen on hard times. He uses extensive research, management visits and a contrarian streak to pick a unique group of 360 or so growth stocks for this $48 billion fund. Top holdings as of the fund's last filing include Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Google (GOOG), Genentech (DNA), Procter & Gamble (PG) and Apple (AAPL). The only knock: At times Danoff has managed almost $100 billion between this fund and other charges. That’s a lot for one manager.

Low-Priced Stock is another top performer, but completely different from its counterpart. Tillinghast has put together a sweeping portfolio of over 700 stocks that span the market cap spectrum, from small caps to the stock world's biggest names. The portfolio does have some similar characteristics: Member companies usually have share prices under $35 and are trading at deep discounts despite rosy earnings prospects. Top holdings as of the fund's last filing include Petrobras (PBR), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY), Safeway (SWY) and Oracle (ORCL).