Q. Is Fidelity Small Cap Growth Fund worth putting money in? - FY, via the Internet

A. It seeks out companies off the radar screens of most investors and analysts, which makes it slightly more volatile than many broader-market funds would be.

Strong stock-picking is its forte, which was displayed in its portfolio selection of oil and gas producer EXCO Resources that was a top performer for it last year.

The $1.2 billion Fidelity Small Cap Growth Fund is up 52 percent over the past 12 months and has a three-year annualized decline of two percent. Both results rank in the upper one-fourth of small growth funds.

"Our newsletter has a 'buy' rating on Fidelity Small Cap Growth because it's a great complement to core broad-market exposure," said Jim Lowell, editor of the independent Fidelity Investor newsletter (www.fidelityinvestor.com), Potomac, Maryland. "I would use it as a 'satellite' position of about 10 to 15 percent of the portfolio of a growth-oriented investor."

Since becoming portfolio manager of this fund in 2005, Lionel Harris has experienced good, bad and rebounding performance periods. He is a former small-cap team analyst and former director of high-income research at Fidelity. This concentrated portfolio has about 150 stocks and only about 12 percent of those are foreign. He looks for those with annual growth of 15 percent annually.

Harris has more than $1 million of his own money in this fund, which is a positive for investors because it means his goals are in line with theirs. He has run Fidelity Small Cap Opportunities Fund since 2007.

"Fidelity's proprietary analyst research can really enable this fund to have some extraordinary outperformance in periods when the market is recovering or earnings are growing," Lowell said. "The top 10 holdings represent less than 12 percent of his total holdings, so Harris is not aiming to hit home runs."

Health care represents 19 percent of the fund and business services 16 percent. Top holdings include EXCO Resources, Riverbed Technology, J2 Global Communications, Comstock Resources, Microsemi, Wright Express, CACI International, Plantronics, Massey Energy and ViaSat.

This "no-load" (no sales charge) fund requires a $2,500 minimum initial investment and has a reasonable annual expense ratio of 1.08 percent.

Andrew Leckey answers questions only through the column. Address inquiries to Andrew Leckey, 555 North Central Avenue, Suite 302, Phoenix, Arizona 85004-1248, or by e-mail at andrewinv@aol.com

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