05/27/96 IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB

IN LIKE A LION, OUT LIKE A LAMB

DREYFUS CORP., WHOSE prowling-lion TV ads helped it grab business in money-market and bond mutual funds, wants to be king of the equity-fund jungle. But some cosmetics are involved.
Dreyfus does have stuff to brag about. Since its 1994 merger with Mellon Bank, the firm has hired new fund managers and expanded research. It has rolled out 19 new funds and adopted 10 others. The eight-month-old Dreyfus Aggressive Growth Fund, up 64% this year, is a top performer.
Then there is the 10-year-old Dreyfus Capital Value Fund. Throughout the '90s' bull market, its managers avoided stocks in favor of such things as cash, gold, and bonds. The fund is up less than 2% this year, well behind broad market indexes. Worse, Capital Value lost 3.1% in 1995 and 3.9% in 1994, when its bearishness should have paid off.
Now, Dreyfus is distancing itself from Capital Value by asking shareholders to approve changing the name to Comstock Partners Capital Value Fund. The fund's longtime money manager, Comstock Partners, is currently listed as the fund's subadviser. Comstock would become the adviser and Dreyfus the subadviser. The fund's new name ``more appropriately reflects the respective roles'' of the two companies, Dreyfus says.
EDITED BY LISA SANDERS Jeffrey Laderman