The Stocks the Funds Are Buying

We all know who's on Wall Street's Wish List. What I want to know -- and I'm guessing you do, too -- is who's doing the wishing. Which funds are buying the week's top stocks in our Motley Fool CAPS investor-intelligence database?

Once again, here's our list of contenders:

List-topper BluePhoenix, which claims to help companies get more from old technology, should be today's subject. But Morningstar shows no funds buying. (Scratches head.)

Apex Silver Mines, however, has plenty of fans. Here's a look at the top four funds that are buying this stock:

• Wells Fargo Advantage Small Cap Disciplined (SCOVX), which just turned 5 in April and which, in that time, has obliterated the S&P 500 by nearly 10 percentage points a year.
• ING Value Choice A (PAVAX) sports an ugly 5.75% front-end load, yet remains an outperformer. Value Choice beat the bogey by 10.5 percentage points last year, ranking it tops among mid-cap value funds, according to Morningstar.
• John Hancock Large Cap Equity A (TAGRX) has been in business for 57 years but over the past five has barely matched the index. And it charges a 5% front-end load to boot. Yuck.
• Northern Multi-Manager Int'l Equity (NMIEX), which turns 1 in June, combines the investing philosophies of several global stock pickers in the quest for outsized returns. It has yet to succeed.

Of these funds, it's Wells Fargo's Small Cap Disciplined that interests me most. Here are its top five stock positions:

Talk about an interesting portfolio. Listen to what CAPS All-Star 1Learner has to say about infrastructure software supplier BEA Systems:

This stock is being held down due to the delisting notice and late filing of the 3rd quarter [10-Q]. The underlying business is good even as the stock price is suffering. If is goes much lower, [it] will be a takeover target.

I've waxed skeptical about BEA before, but it's hard to ignore the market-crushing results of manager Robert Costomiris. Maybe it's time to give BEA another look?

For me, it often helps to see what superior stock pickers are buying. If that describes you, too, then consider Motley Fool Champion Funds. Advisor Shannon Zimmerman's picks are up more than 13% on their respective benchmarks. See for yourself by taking a free, no-risk trial.

That's all for now. See you back here next week, when we once again look at the funds behind the fantasy.

Still hungry for stock ideas? Stop by CAPS and get your fill, 100% free.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers, who is ranked 4,328 out of more than 29,500 rated investors in CAPS, didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Tim's portfolio holdings can be found at his Fool profile. His thoughts on funds, Foolishness, and investing in general may be found in his blog. The Motley Fool's disclosure policy has recurring fantasies about a desert island, margaritas, and a plate of burritos. Go figure.