RS Grabs Winners Under The Radar Wanted: 20%+ Growers Smaller Company Growth finds micro-cap stocks getting discovered sooner.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)

Byline: CLAIRE MENCKE

For small-cap fund managers, it's more important than ever to be early, says Bill Wolfenden.

And as manager of RS Investments' $132 million Smaller Company Growth Fund, he's in a better than average position to do just that.

That helped the fund return 8.3% last year and 4.4% in 2000, though this year the fund is down 14%.

Still, the fund carries a 36-Month Performance Rating of A from IBD, as its total return was among the top 5% of all funds. Over the past five years, returns have averaged 17.2%.

"Even micro caps are getting discovered sooner now," said Wolfenden. "There are more tools for this."

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