How This Contrarian Mutual Fund Beats Its Peers

Janus Contrarian looks for undervalued companies that are changing for the better.

Dan Kozlowski says the approach suggested by his fund’s name, Janus Contrarian (JSVAX), means “pushing aside the hot stock du jour bantered about on CNBC” and turning toward less-appreciated segments of the market. His bets on turnarounds—such as Canadian Pacific Railway, which is being revitalized by a chief executive who came on board in 2012—have paid off. Since Kozlowski took over as manager in mid 2011, Contrarian has returned 16.4% annualized, beating its peers (funds that invest in large companies with a blend of growth and value attributes) by an average of 3.0 percentage points per year.

Tesla Model S

* Annualized for three and five years. @ Rankings exclude share classes of this fund with different fee structures or higher minimum initial investments.

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Miriam Cross
Associate Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
Miriam lived in Toronto, Canada, before joining Kiplinger's Personal Finance in November 2012. Prior to that, she freelanced as a fact-checker for several Canadian publications, including Reader's Digest Canada, Style at Home and Air Canada's enRoute. She received a BA from the University of Toronto with a major in English literature and completed a certificate in Magazine and Web Publishing at Ryerson University.