Don’t call Steven Romick a daredevil, although FORTUNE magazine did just that last year, while also describing him as one of the undiscovered greats. As manager of the FPA Crescent fund, Romick ventures into areas where other fund managers won't tread, but believe it or not, he actually does it to protect capital -- in fact, FPA Crescent has a lower volatility than most funds, and still produces strong returns.

His focus on protecting capital has had its downsides; Romick will be the first to admit that in a roaring, large-cap-dominated bull market, such as 1998-99, his fund doesn't do as well. But in the past decade, Romick has had only one losing year, and that year he still beat the market. He produced a 3.7 percent return last year, and a 14.5 percent return over the past three years against the current of a bear market.

Charming Shoppes

WFS Financial

Patterson-UTI Energy