An investment trust is perfect for the contrarian investor For this reason, and unlike Anthony did, I do not run the Special Values trust as a mirror of the Special Situations fund. Although the philosophy and process I use to pick stocks are exactly the same across both funds, and in most cases the companies I invest in will be the same, I prefer to invest a larger proportion of the Special Values portfolio in smaller companies. One of the reasons I enjoy investing in smaller companies is that there is a very large number and variety of business models to choose from. Some of these are very poorly understood by brokers and my competitors, and so, by working with Fidelity's analyst team, I can get a real informational edge and identify those companies whose share prices are unfairly low. My favourite shares Some of these are household names that many readers will recognise. I hold shares in Mothercare, for example, because although the company has struggled in bringing losses in its UK business under control, causing many investors to sell their holdings, its overseas licensing business is slowly transforming the business into one with higher growth and less need for capital spending. As a contrarian, my objective is to buy into this process of change before others have realised it is occurring. However, I also see good investment opportunities at the other end of the size scale, in the giants of the FTSE 100. Many of these have disappointed investors for some years, and so languish on low valuation multiples and high dividend yields. This gives me some comfort that any capital I invest here should be fairly well protected from severe price falls. On the upside, I think some of these giant companies, such as Shell, will benefit from a new, more shareholder-friendly management style, which is in the early stages of taking shape. Lloyds Banking Group is another position where I can see potential for a significant change in investor perception, as the company emerges from a historic period of significant stress and excessive risk taking and transforms into a much simpler, less risky business that investors can easily understand and be comfortable with. Fidelity Special Values: past, present and future Twenty years into its life, I feel privileged to be managing the Fidelity Special Values investment trust and recognise a strong sense of heritage and continuity, as established by Anthony Bolton and capably continued by Sanjeev Shah before I was appointed manager. Historically, the trust has done an excellent job for its investors; significantly beating the returns of the wider market since inception and on most multi-year views. I believe that by consistently employing these principles of contrarian investing in companies of all sizes, I can continue to deliver the long term growth of their savings that investors in the trust expect. Alex Wright currently manages Fidelity's Special Situations fund and Special Values investment trust.