Date updated:08-08-2009
Barron's talks with Allison Thacker, managing director and co-portfolio manager for a group of funds at San Francisco-based RS Investments. The RS Technology Fund (RSIFX), which she co-manages with Steven Bishop, has been on fire in 2009. As of July 31, the fund is up 47.53% compared with 10.97% for the S&P.

-
GOOG
Google Inc. - $569.964
- -0.53%
- $569.99
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
GOOG
Google Inc. - $569.964
- -0.53%
- $569.99
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
AAPL
Apple Inc. - $199.92
- -0.29%
- $198.33
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
MSFT
Microsoft Corpora - $29.62
- -0.54%
- $29.67
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
CSCO
Cisco Systems - $23.46
- -0.93%
- $23.49
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
AMZN
Amazon.com - $129.66
- +0.52%
- $127.51
Thacker oversees software and Internet-related investing while Bishop focuses on hardware and networking. Their biggest holdings include the usual suspects, such as Google (GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Amazon.com (AMZN).

-
GSIC
Gsi Commerce - $22.12
- +0.68%
- $21.78
One of her favorite picks is an e-commerce play, GSI Commerce (GSIC). The King of Prussia, Pa.-based company provides business-to-consumer services ranging from running clients' e-commerce sites to fulfillment and shipping. GSI is an outsourcing option for companies, such as Dick's Sporting Goods and Aeropostale, which don't want to invest in warehouses, computer systems and labor in order to sell merchandise over the Internet, Thacker says. The money manager thinks GSI's stock has been beaten down because management was preoccupied with building warehouses, fulfillment operations and call centers. "We were always asking, 'Why is your business so capital intensive?' she says. But the board reviewed the company's free cash flow about a year ago, and now the company is throwing off more cash. "I'm not sure they were always focused on capital efficiency," Thacker says. Since then, GSI has been investing in more non-capital- intensive things, such as online advertising that complements its e-commerce business, which is a growth niche as retailers are devoting bigger slices of their marketing budgets to e-mail advertising.

-
OMTR
Omniture - $21.52
- 0.00%
- $N/A
Another of Thacker's choices is Omniture (OMTR), a Utah-based outfit that sells Web analytic software to companies as a service over the Internet. Companies use Omniture services to monitor traffic to their Websites to glean what their customers are doing, Thacker explains. Consistent with the "doing more with less" theme, Omniture clients can maximize their Web operations by testing and targeting their online marketing. While Omniture has been hurt by the advertising recession, Thacker thinks there is pent-up demand for the company's newest tools and services, and sales will pick up once customers start to draw up their ad budgets. After a rough couple of years, the top line should grow 15% in 2009, she says. Thacker thinks the shares, which were trading around 14 last week, could hit 20 over the next 12 months.
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