Mutual fund companies are introducing new funds that do not require hands-on fund managers. These funds rely on computers to choose stocks. Quantitative funds have existed for some time, but they are increasing in number as fund firms attempt to enhance performance while reducing costs. The funds, commonly called 'quant funds,' offer fund companies the opportunity to outpace market indexes without using an experienced stock picker. Quant funds were first introduced in the 1970s, but became increasingly popular in the 1990s as computers gained in power. Each of the funds has proprietary computer models used to process various types of data related to a specific stock. These data include projected earnings growth, price-to-earnings ratio, and past stock-price performance. Quant funds can analyze thousands of stocks at one time, so they often hold broadly diversified portfolios with hundreds of names. Investors like quant funds because of the discipline and lack of emotion in the investing method. They also like the funds because they can get in on hedge-fund-like strategies, including short selling. When a stock is shorted, borrowed shares are sold to profit from an expected decline in price. Quant funds short stocks because a computer can rank every stock held by the fund every day. This allows the fund to purchase the highest-ranked stocks and short the lowest-ranked ones. It is difficult for investors to know how much risk is involved with the funds, however, because the details of investing strategies in these funds are closely guarded.