Eaton Vance Atlanta Capital SMID-Cap Fund Manager Bill Bell says with the consumer pretty weak recently due to a lack of wage inflation, they are instead finding strong opportunities in the industrial sector.

SHOWS: NEW YORK, USA (OCTOBER 15, 2014) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. EATON VANCE, ATLANTA CAPITAL SMID-CAP FUND MANAGER, BILL BELL, SAYING:

JOURNALIST ASKING BILL BELL: 'Do you see as many opportunities now in small cap even though Russell 2000 has not matched the performance of some of the larger peers but there are concerns on what is happening in small caps?'

BELL: 'Really we don't see a lot of opportunities in small cap right now. We have been through a very big move in the market place and you have seen small cap valuations in our opinion get a bit high. So we see opportunities as you go up in market capitalization really more towards the midcap range.'

JOURNALIST: 'You hold a lot of industrials in your fund. What is it about the industrial sector that is catching your eye?'

BELL: 'Well, you know I think if you look at the economy the consumer has obviously been pretty weak. There hasn't been a lot of wage inflation there and I think people have been basically getting rid of debt that they've had and so consumer spending has been a bit weak. Whereas the industrial sector has been pretty strong for the last three or four years so we are finding many more opportunities in that market.'

JOURNALIST: 'Is that cycle at risk of changing though because we're actually fairly long into recovery that never really felt much like a recovery?'

BELL: 'Yeah, I think if you look at where unemployment is right now we expect to see some wage inflation in the next one or two years. So that will obviously be a positive for the consumer. We can see consumer related stocks actually come back to some extent.'