Two Terrific Go-Anywhere Foreign Funds

However, it's awfully tough to find good go-anywhere foreign funds that are open to new investors and reasonably priced. Most foreign large-cap funds pay only limited attention to smaller caps, emerging-markets issues, or both, whereas many foreign small/mid-cap offerings focus far down the market-cap ladder. Many of the foreign funds that have thrived with wide-ranging strategies are closed to new investors, including Julius Baer International Equity (NASDAQ: - ), William Blair International (NASDAQ: - ), and Artisan International Value (NASDAQ: - ). And several of good ones that remain open to new investors, such as Laudus International Market Masters (NASDAQ: - ) and Quantitative Foreign Value (NASDAQ: - ), are pretty pricey.

Fortunately, investors who are drawn to the merits of the go-anywhere foreign funds do have a couple of terrific options. Masters Select International is a relatively inexpensive multimanager fund that recently reopened to new investors and that has prospered by combining a broad array of investment strategies. Oppenheimer International Growth is an attractively priced offering that remains accessible to new investors and that has thrived by searching far and wide for good growth opportunities. Here are the details on each.

Masters Select International (NASDAQ: - )
This foreign large-bend fund's advisor recently added Northern Cross as the sixth subadvisor in its lineup. The team from Northern Cross, which has had considerable success helping Hakan Castegren run Harbor International (NASDAQ: - ), follows a flexible blue-chip strategy that pays significant attention to emerging-markets opportunities. Meanwhile, all of the other subadvisors have pronounced tastes and readily look beyond the overseas mainstream, and all of them are quite comfortable buying smaller-cap names, emerging-markets stocks, or both. As a result, this fund normally sports an exceptional portfolio that spans the market-cap spectrum as well as the world. The fund also boasts outstanding longer-term returns, and it's up an impressive 29% and near the top of its category for the year to date. The fact that its expense ratio is below the median for no-load foreign large-cap offerings is another plus.

Oppenheimer International Growth (NASDAQ: - )
George Evans, who has run this fund since it opened in early 1996 and thus is one of the longest-serving managers in the foreign large-growth category, follows a theme-oriented growth strategy. He looks for companies with good three- to five-year growth prospects that fit into one of four investment themes--mass affluence, new technology, restructuring, and aging--and he readily considers smaller-cap and emerging-markets issues while doing so. The end result is one of the more-distinctive and wide-ranging foreign portfolios around. In addition to a substantial amount of developed-markets blue chips, the fund typically has a sizable position in emerging-markets names, a healthy dose of mid-cap stocks, and a significant stake in small-cap issues. Moreover, Evans has delivered superior gains over the trailing three-, five-, and 10-year periods with this approach. And the fund's expense ratio is well below the median for front-load foreign large-cap offerings, which gives it a marked and ongoing edge.

Conclusion
Both of these funds make great stand-alone international holdings and work quite well as complements to conservative foreign large-value funds. However, it's crucial to recognize that the funds' penchant for venturing outside the overseas mainstream courts risk and that they have been more volatile than their peers over time. It's essential to understand that the big gains international funds of all stripes have posted in recent years are unsustainable and that these funds have enjoyed a tailwind during the current overseas rally due to their taste for smaller-cap issues and emerging-markets stocks (which have performed exceptionally well). And finally, it's important to note that Masters Select International is expected to make a distribution later this year.

William Samuel Rocco does not own shares in any of the securities mentioned above.