It's A Pleasure Fund gambles on fun--and offers investors a chance to play and win.
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We all know things like watching TV, chilling out on a Caribbeancruise or chugging an ice cold Heineken are enjoyable pastimes. Butwho'd have thought they'd be good long-terminvestments?
The INVESCO Leisure Fund is all about fun. It invests its assetsin things like cable companies, casinos and cruise ships. You know,the kinds of companies that manufacture, produce or bring us thethings we like to do during our spare time. And believe it or not,this fund has made its investors very happy campers.
Since its inception in 1984, the fund's average annual totalreturn to shareholders has been 19.62 percent. But newcomers havenothing to complain about either. In 1998, for instance, the fundwas up almost 30 percent. And as of March 31, the fund was up morethan 10.7 percent for the year-to-date--well ahead of other fundsin its category.
Mark Greenberg has been the fund's portfolio manager sinceFebruary 1996. He's big on holding on to his picks and makingbig bets. For example, the annual turn-over rate for the fund in1998 was a low 31 per-cent. At press time in March, every stock inthe fund's top 15 had been there three months prior; the top 15stocks make up about 55 per-cent of the fund's holdings.
The current hot property in the INVESCO Leisure Fund is cable.It's the fund's biggest sector weighting. "LibertyMedia has been my largest holding for more than a year, and thatstock doubled last year," says Greenberg. "MediaOne Grouphas gone up the same amount."
Greenberg plans to stick with cable for the long term. Why?Because people like watching television. "More people in theUnited States have TV sets than have indoor plumbing," hesays.
One sector he didn't care much for a few years ago but isnow investing in is casinos. While Greenberg has negative feelingsabout Las Vegas due to what he feels is an excessive number ofhotels being built, he has been buying Harrah's stock. Afterlooking at the various places the company gets its revenue(Harrah's profits aren't limited to its Las Vegas locationalone), its current price and future projections, he figuresit's a good long-term bet.
Anyone interested in the INVESCO Leisure Fund needs to remembera few investment basics. First, investing in any sector fund comeswith additional risks because it is, by nature, not diversified.And second, past performance is no indication of what the fund willdo in the future. Even Greenberg says, "If we get a bigrecession, will spending drop on these activities? Yeah. Like itwill on everything else."
Dian Vujovich is a nationally syndicated mutual fundcolumnist and author of 101 Mutual Fund FAQs (Chandler HousePress). For free educational mutual fund information, visit her Website, http://www.diansfundfreebies.com
At A Glance
Fund name: INVESCO Leisure Fund [FLISX]
Managed by: INVESCO Funds Group
Portfolio manager: Mark Greenberg
Top holdings: Liberty Media, OmniCom Inc., Cie FinanciereRichemont, MediaOne Group and Heineken
Total assets: $277 million
Average annual return: 19.62% (since its inception in 1984)
Load: None
Total expense ratio: 1.41% with a 12b-1 fee of 0.25%
Minimum initial investment: $1,000 on regular accounts, $250 forIRAs
Phone: (800) 255-6927
Web site: http://www.invesco.com
