ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund

It is that time in markets when earnings growth is about to kick in and investing in a multi-cap scheme is a lucrative option. The very nature of a multi-cap scheme is beneficial as it invests in companies across market capitalization. Among multi-cap schemes, ICICI Value Discovery Scheme has been an out performer -both in the long term and short term.

In the past three-year and five-year periods, the scheme has delivered 33% and 19% returns, respectively. This out performance is purely due to stock-picking strategy of the scheme's fund manager, Mrinal Singh. The scheme invests in companies which trade at a discount to their intrinsic value. Financial parameters such as price-to-book value, price-to-earnings multiple and relative market capitalization of a given company in comparison to its peers in the industry are a few factors that the fund manager keeps in mind while identifying a company. At present, a large part (over 60%) of the scheme's portfolio is invested in large-sized companies while the rest of the scheme's portfolio is spread across mid-and-small-sized companies.

In terms of portfolio, the scheme's fund manager has bought companies where valuations were attractive. These companies include names such as ICICI Bank, Cipla and Sun Pharmaceuticals.These companies are fundamentally sound and have high earnings growth potential given their brand presence and market share in their respective sectors.