Call him the Troubleshooter. For the second time in a decade, Nick Thakore has been dispatched to a troubled fund family in hopes of bringing about a turnaround.

This time, Thakore is at Putnam Investments, the Boston firm riddled with mediocre performers and shareholder defections that is still trying to gain its footing after the market timing scandal in 2003. Thakore took the helm at Putnam Voyager, the firm's flagship offering, in November 2008. He is one of the new hires that Putnam's president and CEO Robert Reynolds made to breathe new life into the once venerable shop's lineup. At its peak in 2000, Voyager ran $46 billion in assets; today just $3.7 billion is invested in the fund.

Thakore has joined forces with Robert Ewing, manager of the Putnam Fund for Growth and Income, to head up Putnam's large-cap equities team. The pair had revitalized RiverSource Investments (formerly American Express Funds) when they first came to Putnam in 2002, along with a team of managers and analysts from Fidelity.

Thakore's early results fit his rising-star reputation. For the year ended June 8, Voyager is up 23.4%, putting it in the large-cap growth category's top 2%. In 2009, Thakore's first year managing Voyager, the fund turned in a stunning 63.9% return, beating the typical fund in the category by more than 35 percentage points. Thakore's touch has lifted the fund's long-term standing too. For the three-year period ended June 8, Voyager is down just 0.3% annualized, besting 99% of large-cap offerings; for the five-year period it's up 3.3%, in the category's top 10%.

GROWTH AND VALUE

For the past decade Putnam Voyager has been a revolving door for managers, and what most of them had in common was that they ran the fund in a growth style that bordered on momentum investing. Thakore, however, takes a very different view of growth investing. He pays careful attention to valuations, and his turnover is higher than most as he sells stocks when they are no longer cheap. "I want to invest in growth companies, but I don't want to pay up for growth," Thakore says.

That's why in late 2008 and early 2009, when stock prices plummeted, Thakore was busy filling his portfolio. "That was the best stock-picking environment I'd ever seen in my career," he says. "The chances for buying very attractive companies at great prices were very high. I would rate it as a 10."

Thakore scooped up shares in Apple, the fund's second largest position. In January 2009, its share price hovered around $80. Apple went on to log record earnings later in the year and its stock returned 147%. What's more, 40% of Apple's market cap was in cash-and the firm was continuing to generate ample free cash flow at an impressive clip. In the first quarter of 2010, Apple's profits rose by 50%. But Thakore has now cooled on the white-hot stock. With Apple currently trading at $250, he's letting his fund's position dwindle.

IN THE INCUBATOR

Today's stock market ranks as a 7 or 8 for Thakore in terms of buying opportunities. Many stock prices have rebounded nicely, he says, but there's still room for additional gains. That view is largely based on Thakore's belief that the economic recovery will continue. The stock sell-off in May and June makes some issues even more attractive.

Voyager is a broadly diverse fund with more than 170 holdings. The large number of names is a risk management tool that helps him neutralize his bets, Thakore explains. The top 20 holdings account for 40% to 50% of the fund's assets, however. "I also tend to incubate ideas, and some of the best long-term stocks in my portfolio started out as small positions that were later built up," he says.

One such stock is Aflac, the supplemental insurance company. Although the company has generated profits, its investment portfolio is heavily concentrated in preferred shares of European banks, which is giving investors pause because of the ongoing debt crisis. But Aflac has a history of delivering for shareholders. "Aflac has grown its operating earnings at least 15% for 19 straight years," he points out. "You would think that a company like that would get high valuations."

It doesn't. The stock trades at $42 a share, which, given Thakore's belief that it could earn $6 in profits next year, gives the stock a P/E of just 7.

THE LURE OF TECH

Like other growth managers, Thakore does find himself veering toward technology names. In fact it's his largest sector weighting at about 25%. Thakore emphasizes cyclical growth tech stocks, which should benefit from the recovery that is under way.