Schwab Fund Buys By The Numbers; Portfolio Is 2 Years Old; Small-cap fund sticks to rating system to find its value and growth names.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)

Byline: KEN HOOVER

The managers of Schwab Small-Cap Equity Fund don't bother listening to conference calls. And they don't try to digest the fine points in a company's business plan.

Instead, they make buy and sell decisions based on Schwab's proprietary stock selection ratings.

The rating system was created to help Schwab customers pick stocks. Along the line, the discount broker decided to use it to drive the strategy of a series of mutual funds.

The $101 million small-cap fund is only two years old, but so far the system has worked well for shareholders. The fund is outperforming the S&P 500 and its peer group by comfortable margins.

…