By Barbara Kollmeyer
Chase Growth Fund pursues stocks ranging in value from $1 billion all the way up to the trillions
Big tech companies benefiting from using AI are using companies like Littelfuse to get there, says managers for the S&amp;P 500-beating Chase Growth Fund.
In the current highly concentrated stock market, the holdings of many big growth funds are dominated by the largest AI-focused tech names.
However, managers of the $124 million Chase Growth Fund CHAIX believe their &#34;all-cap&#34; mandate gives them an agility edge. The five-star Morningstar-rated fund has beat the S&amp;P 500 SPX on 3-, 5- and 10-year periods. On a one-year basis, it's up 53% versus 28% for the S&amp;P 500 SPX.
&#34;When the large names are working, we tend to get larger in the portfolio. When the smaller names are working, we're able to move down to the smaller market-cap range and get into those names and avoid the larger names,&#34; Robert Klintworth, a co-manager on the fund, told MarketWatch in an interview on Tuesday with fellow manager Peter Tuz. Spencer Garrett is another co-manager.
The fund generally invests in companies worth at least $1 billion. Alphabet (GOOGL) of course handily tops this threshold with a market cap of nearly $5 trillion. It's grown into the fund's largest position, while the managers have trimmed back No. 3 Nvidia (NVDA) several times since buying it in 2020. &#34;If we hadn't trimmed it at all it would be well over 10% of the portfolio, so we're trying to make sure we don't put too much risk in any one stock,&#34; Klintworth said.
Their screening process has brought in industrial names benefiting from data-center growth and infrastructure build-out, he said.
&#34;If the Nvidias and the Googles of the world are doing well, there are usually other beneficiaries of that,&#34; said Klintworth. One example is MasTec (MTZ), which the fund bought around 14 months ago and has since gained around 240%.
The fund has actually owned MasTec several times, and he noted it was more of a hidden gem when first purchased 15 years ago. Originally a telecommunications business founded in 1994, &#34;they recognized the need to diversify and that's one of the key things in companies we're looking for,&#34; the manager said.
MasTec is now a leading North American infrastructure and construction company, with 50% of its business from oil and natural-gas pipelines and 30% from high-voltage electric power transmissions, with just 25% from telecoms.
Klintworth also flags another holding, BrightSpring Health Services (BTSG), a $10.7 billion provider of pharmacy solutions and home-based care services. &#34;They're well-positioned to capitalize on the healthcare demands of an aging population, people who are looking for the services to come to them instead of having to go out,&#34; he said.
The story here is demand for services in a growing market. &#34;When you look at people on hospice or on Medicare or Medicaid looking for healthcare, they're not looking for AI. They're looking for people who will help them and that's what BrightSpring brings to the table,&#34; said Klintworth.
The fund also recently bought Littelfuse (LFUS), an $11.5 billion maker of circuit protection systems.
&#34;They're seeing, even in a mixed-macro environment, demand for their core circuit protection, power control and industrial electronic product remain solid. Everything is shifting towards electrification, industrial automation and modernization of power and electrical infrastructure,&#34; said Klintworth. Littelfuse is also involved in data center, energy and grid infrastructure, with small fuses needed to keep things running.
Its earnings are expected to grow 35% this year and 17% the next, and Klintworth compares that to Apple (AAPL), for example, where analysts are forecasting 17% earnings growth for this year and 10% for next.
Tuz said while they recognize the market has gone up a lot, especially for certain industry groups, they have about three or four sell triggers. &#34;One is, it hits a target price and unless things are better than we expected, which often they are, like earnings estimates go up, we tend to think about reducing a position.&#34;
Chase Growth Fund also uses a half-dozen technical indicators to help time purchases and sales, with relative strength a big part of that process.
&#34;Our process tries to take the emotion out of investing. It's easy to get scared or excited about certain things going on, but the point of the process is to make it so that we're not doing things based on emotion, but upon what's actually happening in the market and responding to that,&#34; said Klintworth.
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-Barbara Kollmeyer
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05-13-26 0657ET

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The Chase Growth Fund, a five-star rated fund, has seen significant gains, outperforming the S&P 500 with a 53% increase over the past year. The fund's largest holding is Alphabet, valued at nearly $5 trillion, while it has also invested in companies like MasTec and Littelfuse, benefiting from the AI and infrastructure sectors. The fund's managers emphasize their ability to adapt to market conditions, focusing on both large and smaller-cap stocks. They utilize technical indicators to guide investment decisions, aiming to minimize emotional trading.

- The Chase Growth Fund focuses on growth stocks valued from $1 billion to trillions, currently emphasizing companies benefiting from AI, such as Littelfuse and MasTec.  
- Despite the concentration in large-cap tech, the fund's all-cap strategy has outperformed the S&P 500, showing a 53% increase in the past year compared to the index's 28%.  
- The fund managers use technical indicators to guide their investment decisions, aiming to mitigate emotional responses and react accurately to market trends.

Dow Jones

Alphabet - C

Alphabet

Roundhill GOOGL WeeklyPay ETF

Direxion Daily GOOGL Bull 2X Shares

Littelfuse

S&P 500

NVIDIA

Mastec

BrightSpring Health Services

Apple

NVIDIA Corporation

BrightSpring Health Services - Unit

Alphabet is the top holding of this five-star fund that is also finding 240% gains in the 'unsexy' side of the AI buildout