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Eight money managers examine portfolio management strategies in the latest Issue of The Wall Street Transcript available at (212/952-7433) or http://www.twst.com/info/info592.htm

TWST: Can we start out with an overview of First American Capital Management?

Mr. Venable: First American Capital Management is a wholly owned subsidiary of the First American Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that traces its history to 1889. We currently manage about 1.8 billion in assets. We have our roots as the investment division of the First American Trust Company, another subsidiary of the First American Corporation that was formed in 1959. At the end of 1995, First American Capital Management spun out of First American Trust and became incorporated. For many years, we have been primarily an internal money management firm for the Trust Company and other First American affiliated entities. Over the past year, we have hired an institutional sales staff to begin marketing ourselves to institutions outside of our local market.

TWST: Tell us about the Large Cap Core Equity portfolio.

Mr. Venable: As mentioned earlier, our investment philosophy has its roots in our history of managing trust assets. The philosophy and investment process was developed to serve this clientele, which is generally conservative in nature. We invest primarily in large, well-known companies using the S&P 500 as our benchmark. As a core manager, our portfolios generally consist of 50-60 securities representing all broad economic sectors. We place an emphasis on risk control; historically our tracking error relative to the S&P 500 has been about 4%. Our portfolios are formed through a combination of a top-down, macroeconomic look at the world, which dictates how we position ourselves sector-wise, combined with a bottom-up fundamental stock-picking process, to select the individual securities within each economic sector.

TWST: It seems that people have been waiting for this transfer for a decade and it’s been slow in coming. Do you see some driving force here that’s going to get it going?

Mr. Venable: A few other names that added value for us over the past year in this environment are Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and Home Depot (HD). We’ve had a sizable position in those securities and, as D.K. mentioned, a sizable position for us means in the neighborhood of a 3% position.

TWST: When you look at a company like Wal-Mart, what is it that attracts you? It seems to have been slowing down a bit here.

Mr. Willardson: Yes, Wal-Mart has been slowing down. The company had tremendous growth in the late 1980s/early 1990s, but they have done an excellent job of controlling costs and leveraging their position to expand into new areas. One of the characteristics of Wal-Mart that we really like is their expansion into the food and consumer staple side of the business. Although it is a slower growing, lower margin business, they have the ability to improve their margins with their purchasing leverage — and they dominate their market. We reduced our weighting in Wal-Mart slightly, but we still like the stock.

TWST: As you look at the market today, do you see some real opportunities?

Mr. Willardson: In this environment, with a few exceptions, we really are focused more on defense — not making mistakes — rather than trying to find the next big winner. We are allocating more resources to our research effort and are digging deeper on the names we own as well as trying to find additional attractive companies. Our focus continues to be on adding value through controlled sector bets relative the S&P 500 and doing our homework on the companies we own.

1) Juliet S. Ellis, a Managing Director & a Senior Portfolio Manager at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 4,400-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

2) Mark N. Odegard, a Partner, Research & Portfolio Manager with Skyline Asset Management, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 4,100-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

3) H. Giles Knight, a Managing Director at Allied Investment Advisors, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 3,000-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

4) Robert S. Venable, Chief Investment Officer for First American Capital Management, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 4,400-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

5) David K. Willardson, a Portfolio Manager & Lead Analyst at First American Capital Management, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 4,400-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

6) Jack P. Phelan, the President of Helios International Asset Management Inc., examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 3,300-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

7) Jospeh Marini, a Portfolio Manager for Cabot Money Management, examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 6,200-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.

8) James E. Manley, founder of Atlantic-Pacific Capital, Inc., examines portfolio management strategies in this timely and deeply informative 2,500-word interview from The Wall Street Transcript.