The go-anywhere Osterweis Fund gets the spotlight in Friday's WSJ Fund Track column by Sam Mamudi. The article takes a closer look at "go anywhere" mutual funds that do not have a strict mandate limiting where their portfolio managers (PMs) can invest.

Strong inflows into funds run by both Ivy and BlackRock also gain notice in the article. Ivy Asset Strategy's net inflows were $10.3 billion over a two year stretch endiing on April 30. The only mutual fund to pull in more AUM was Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX), which took in a net $20.5 billion.

Inflows at BlackRock Global Allocation were $3.6 billion in 2007, $7 billion in 2008 and $6.3 billion in 2009, reports the paper. Through this year's first quarter inflows were more than $3 billion.

Osterweis was another of the few funds that saw its AUM rise in late 2008 due to its 50 percent cash and short term bond stake it held as the markets fell.

The $1 billion fund pulled in $67 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 and another $399 million in 2009. In this year's first quarter it kept up a similar pace, pulling in $88 million.

Osterweis PM Matt Berler tells the paper that the fund could have moved quicker:

"We sold our financial stocks in the first quarter of 2008, and sold our high-multiple stocks in the summer. But we should have lowered [the rest of] our stock exposure sooner." 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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