Looking Near and Wide

* The Selector: Mark Sunderhuse, manager of the Berger New Generation fund.

* His Record: It’s truly a new generation for the Denver-based fund since Sunderhuse took over at the start of the year after star skipper Bill Keithler jumped ship for cross-town rival Invesco. Perhaps aided by the strong portfolio he inherited, Sunderhuse is off to a decent start: Through Tuesday, the fund had returned 35% year to date.

* His Philosophy: “We look for anything innovative--a market taker, cutting-edge,” Sunderhuse said. “Companies geared to changing technology--whether it’s core, medical, even something strange like chemical--but we steer away from the temporary innovators.” In the communications field, for example, he favors the cable industry over the high-speed phone technology of DSL. “When the cable build-out is complete in five years or so, they’ll have a suite of services [over the Internet], including high-quality video, that DSL can’t really deliver.”

* His Picks: One was right in front of his eyes, the other a little far-flung.

The Laser Center

* Ticker symbol: TLCV

* Market capitalization: $1 billion

* Latest-quarter sales: $47 million

* Est. 1999 earnings per share: 92 cents

Wednesday: $30.75

CapRock

* Ticker symbol: CPRK

* Market capitalization: $880 million

* Latest-quarter sales: $37 million

* Est. 1999 earnings per share: -15 cents

Wednesday: $27.13

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Sunderhuse can vouch for Canada-based Laser Center Inc., which operates eye-care facilities throughout North America. “I recently had my eyes lasiked, and I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome,” he said, referring to the increasingly popular laser surgery for correcting vision. “I’m mountain biking, scuba diving and skiing.” An estimated 85% to 90% of Americans are eligible for the procedure, he notes, and the company has recently signed an agreement with leading vision insurer VSP. “Doctors are doing 15 to 20 of these operations a day.” Though the shares have risen 50% this year, they’ve come down recently and might have more upside than “market darling” Visx, he said. Shares of Visx, the leading maker of eye surgery systems, have quadrupled in 1999.

His other selection, CapRock Communications Corp., comes from the exotic locale of ... Dallas. “Texas is a tech mecca, but my research shows that--with rare exceptions such as Dell Computer--California companies are much, much better followed,” Sunderhuse said. CapRock specializes in a “slightly boring” telecom niche, he said. The company, run by one of the founders of 7-Eleven, provides communications services to small businesses. It operates a “dark fiber” network, meaning its inactive lines can be leased to big players such as MCI WorldCom Inc. CapRock is building a 5,500-mile fiber-optic network in the Southwest, and could be a takeover target as the industry consolidates. “But it’s very well-financed and well-run,” he said. “Even if it’s not bought out, the economics work on a stand-alone basis.”

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Sources: Bloomberg News, IBES International (earnings estimates), Morningstar