Bjurman, Barry Micro Girds For Market Bottom.(SERIES: FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(FUND MANAGER Q & A)

Byline: DAN MOREAU

Bjurman, Barry Micro-Cap Growth Fund breezed through the three years ending with 2001, but like most stock funds has had to work its way through 2002.

It returned 53% in 1999, 46% in 2000, 20% in 2001, but was off 18% for the year going into Thursday.

The fund, with more than $300 million in assets, picks stocks with high earnings growth potential but lower P-Es. It's a hybrid growth-value strategy developed by manager Thomas Barry III. He's run the fund since its inception in 1997.

Barry, 57, has done well. The fund has a three-year annualized return of 27.43%, 38.6 percentage points ahead of the S&P 500 index, and an A+ Rating from IBD. Barry spoke with IBD from his office in Santa Monica, Calif.

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