One to Watch: Janus US Venture

Most of the recent media attention surrounding Janus Capital has been focused on the high-profile appointment of Bill Gross, but there is much more to the US-based firm than its bond team.

Among Janus' biggest strengths is its North American equity team, which is one of the few offering UK investors a product focusing specifically on US small caps. UK small-cap funds are popular with domestic investors, but their US peers are a harder sell, even though they have a much bigger universe of stocks to choose from and have performed better over the long term. According to FE data, the IA North American Smaller Companies sector, which has only 14 constituents, returned 178.81% over the past decade. This compares to 135.13% from the 53-strong IA UK Smaller Companies sector. ...