Opinions expressed are those of the respective author or fund manager and are subject to change, are not guaranteed and should not be considered investment advice.
Ticker Magazine/123jump.com January 29, 2008
"In Quest of Core and Catalysts"
Ticker Magazine/123jump.com conducted an interview with Ryan Crane, portfolio manager of the Stephens Mid Cap Growth Fund and the Stephens Small Cap Growth Fund. Mr. Crane discusses Stephens Investment Management Group's process of trying to identify high return companies in the relatively volatile small cap and mid-cap space. The process requires a considerable amount of experience and expertise. His research team employs a judicious combination of fundamental and quantitative analyses in their distinct dual-approach strategy in their attempt to make money from growth investments for their two funds.
To read the entire article click here.
InvestmentNews December 10, 2007
"Small-cap star blossoms in mid-cap league"
By Jeff Benjamin, Street Wise
Despite stellar returns, Stephens Investment Management Group has been slow to attract assets.
Like a lot of managers of mid-cap stock funds, Stephens Investment Management Group, LLC has discovered opportunities in this often-overlooked segment by successfully managing smaller-cap stock portfolios. Ryan Crane, Chief Investment Officer and senior portolio manager of the Stephens Mid Cap Growth Fund and Stephens Small Cap Growth Fund, discusses how the investments team's competitive advantage in mid cap stocks is based on their expertise in small caps.
To receive a complete hard copy of the article reprint, please send your request to contactstephensfunds.com
Worth Magazine August 2007
"Middle-Weight Champions"
By Ryan Crane, CIO at Stephens Investment Management Group®
Why do investors and wealth advisors overlook the stellar performance of mid-cap stocks?
Though investors relentlessly search for the best-performing market segments, they regulary overlook the impressive performance of domestic mid-cap stocks. The simple explanation for this might be that mid-caps are in the sweet spot of the risk-reward trade-off. They are typically growing faster than large-caps, and yet have less risk and volatility than small-caps.
But one investor's sweet spot is another investor's no-man's land. Despite the better returns, mid-cap stocks (as a group) do not receive their fair share of attention from investors, academia or the media.
Business Week Online July 10, 2007
"MARKET SNAPSHOT: Stocks - Another Subprime Stumble"
John Thornton, co-portfolio manager at Stephens Investment Management Group®, says he will be closely watching earnings numbers to see how consumer spending is holding up. Mr. Thornton will look at profit reports to gage the impact on consumers of the poor housing market, including mortgage woes, and high energy prices. Also, Mr. Thornton says, he'll be watching the earnings of industrial concerns closely, to see if they're bouncing back from the economic growth in the first quarter.
Oil prices are at a relatively tricky point, Mr. Thornton says. High oil prices usually help energy firms, but Mr. Thornton worries prices at this level could actually hurt the energy sector by cutting into demand. He notes that while oil prices have remained high, natural gas prices have eased over the last couple weeks.
The Wall Street Journal June 5, 2007
"SMALL STOCKS: Onyx Gains; Regeneron, Telik Fall"
Small stocks rose to records on June 4, 2007, helped by a string of acquisitions, as bad news from the Chinese market overnight and rising oil prices only briefly dented last week's enthusiasm.
The market's nervous about [high oil prices], and the consumer stocks certainly haven't had a good last couple of month, but the market seems to be fairly resilient, said John Thornton, co-portfolio manager of Stephens Small Cap Growth Fund. The deals [Monday] continued the trend we've seen recently - whether it's consolidation or healthy areas that are seeing some deal activity, he commented.
Emerging Manager Monthly May 2007
"Stephens Believes Time Is Right For Small Cap Growth Investing"
Stephens Investment Management Group® ("SIMG") sees a market primed for a return to growth investing. When deciding on stock picks for the firm's small cap growth portfolio, the management and research teams look for two types of growth companies: core growth and earnings catalysts. Core growth is typified by stable, predictable companies with strong business models and steady earnings streams. Earnings catalysts identify new "factors" that may lead to increased earnings growth, such as a new product, a new management team or an acquisition.
According to SIMG's Chief Investment Officer Ryan Crane, the investment team also looks for thematic investing opportunities-positioned from a bottom-up research process. Sometimes the investment thesis upon which a company capitalizes is part of a broader issue across a specific industry. When Ryan and his team identify these ideas, they will leverage that knowledge to find additional company investments.
Please click here for a current prospectus. Stephens Funds Prospectus
Growth stocks typically are more volatile than value stocks; however, value stocks have a lower expected growth rate in earnings and sales. Investing in small and medium-sized companies involves greater risk than investing in more established companies, including business risk, significant stock price fluctuations and illiquidity. Because the value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate, there is the risk that an investor will lose money. An investment will decline in value if the value of the Fund’s investments decreases.
Fund holdings and Sector allocations are subject to change at any time and should not be considered recommendations to buy or sell any security. Please click here for the funds' top ten holdings.
The Russell 2000® Growth Index measures the performance of those Russell 2000® Index companies with higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth values. The Russell 2000® Index and Russell 2000® Growth Index are trademarks/service marks of the Frank Russell Company.
The Funds are distributed by Quasar Distributors, LLC
Stephens Investment Management Group www.stephensfunds.com CONTACT THE FUND: 1-866-735-7464 or stephensfunds.com
These articles have been prepared solely for informative purposes as of their stated date and are not a solicitation, or an offer, to buy or sell any security. They do not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets or developments referred to in the materials. Information included in the articles was obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but has not been independently verified and is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. All expressions of opinion apply on the date of issuance of the articles. No subsequent publication or distribution of these articles shall mean or imply that any such information or opinion remains current at any time after the stated date of the article. You will not be advised of any changes in any such information or opinion. Additional information available upon request.
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