Olstein Puts Data Under Microscope; He Returns 17% A Year; Fund manager eschews style-box pigeonholing, goes anywhere for profit.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)

Byline: KEN HOOVER

Robert Olstein is an expert in financial statements.

For years, he published a biweekly newsletter called the "Quality of Earnings Report" that sought to peek behind the numbers that companies reported and hunt for insights into how good a job management was doing. It had a wide institutional following.

Olstein sold his interest in the newsletter in the early 1980s, and it's no longer published. But he's still peeking behind the numbers, now with an eye to finding good investments for Olstein Financial Alert Fund.

The $2 billion fund is just shy of having a complete 10-year record. Olstein says it's generated a 17% return from its September 1995 inception through Dec. 31, 2004.

In 2003 it gained 37.2% vs. 28.6% for the S&P 500. In 2004, it returned 11.9% vs. 10.9% for the S&P. As of Tuesday, its three-year average annual return was 7.75% vs. the S&P's 4.56%. It pumped out 12.05% a year the past five years against -0.73% for the S&P.

Morningstar pegs Financial Alert as a mid-cap core fund. But Olstein feels uneasy with style boxes. He thinks a fund manager's job is to make money for shareholder regardless of where he can find profit.