While volatility like we’ve had recently often creates great bargains, even the best do-it-yourself stock pickers can find it hard to take full advantage of buying opportunities before they slip away.

So rather than try to navigate choppy waters entirely on your own, why not consider turning over a substantial portion of your portfolio to the pros?

#-ad_banner-#​One top large-cap fund I especially like has a long, successful history of capitalizing on stock market fluctuations. And its lead managers, two noted value investors, were out looking for bargains during the latest bout of volatility.

In a recent interview with CNBC a couple weeks ago, for example, co-manager Bill Nygren revealed some stocks he considered worthy values at the time. Among these were IT services provider Accenture Plc (NYSE: ACN), the Swiss commodities and mining firm Glencore Plc (OTC: GLNCY), the well-known appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. (NYSE: WHR) and Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS), which is dominant in the resorts and casinos space.

In each case, he and co-manager Kevin Grant invested in a better-than-average business priced as if it was only average, Nygren stressed.

Nygren also reiterated the simple philosophy at the $16.6-billion Oakmark (NYSE: OAKMX) fund: the lower the price of an investment, the lower the risk.

But that doesn’t mean the fund buys willy-nilly simply because the market’s falling or a stock trades at a discount to peers, like many other so-called value investors do. These common practices often result in the purchase of stocks that are still overvalued, even if the prices have come down.

To Nygren and Grant, a true value stock has a price that implies at least a 40% discount to their estimate of the actual value of the business, Morningstar points out. When making their picks, the co-managers search among the 250 largest U.S. companies by revenue, book value and net income. Their current top 10 holdings and sector allocations are summarized in the two tables below.

Because Oakmark is actively managed, Nygren and Grant don’t have to track an index and can seek value without restraint. As a result, Oakmark’s sector composition can vary greatly from that of the Russell 1000 index commonly used as a benchmark for large-cap funds. Right now, for instance, Oakmark has far more invested in financial services than the Russell 1000 and far less in healthcare.

The fund is somewhat underinvested in energy and basic materials, two sectors that took an especially large tumble during the recent selloff (energy actually entered bear market territory). So I suspect there’ll be substantial additions to those two categories in the next quarter or two. For example, the oil and gas firm Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA), Oakmark’s second-largest holding, is still more than 25% below its late-July high of about $103 and could be a position Nygren and Grant decide to beef up.

The co-managers have been at Oakmark for nearly 15 years, since March 2000 in both cases. Oakmark has far outpaced the broader market during that time, delivering 8.7% annually versus 4.8% per year for the S&P 500.

Like most funds with great long-term records, Oakmark has been remarkably consistent, typically beating or at least staying neck-and-neck with the market in any given year. However, investors shouldn’t expect this every year.

Since 2004, for example, Oakmark has horribly lagged the market twice — by 6.2% in 2005 and by 9.1% in 2007. In those years, the fund lost 1.3% and 3.6%, respectively, compared with gains of 4.9% and 5.5%, respectively, for S&P 500. Oakmark also trailed somewhat in 2010, rising 12.2% versus a 15.1% gain for the S&P 500.

Importantly, the fund’s long-term outperformance hasn’t come with much extra risk. During Nygren and Grant’s tenure, net asset value has usually only fluctuated 6% more than the market, hardly a noticeable difference. Oakmark’s expense ratio of 0.95% is in line with peers and reasonable overall, in my opinion, considering the fund’s track record and acceptable risk profile.

Oakmark isn’t appropriate for income seekers, though. It currently only yields 0.45%, about a quarter of what you’d get from a top large-cap index fund like the Vanguard 500 Index (NYSE: VFINX).

Risks To Consider: For any actively managed fund that consistently stays on top, one of the biggest risks is losing a manager. This risk is perhaps a little smaller for Oakmark since it’s co-managed and both managers could probably run things on their own. But there’s no guarantee performance would remain the same even if only one left the fund, let alone both.

Action to Take –> Nygren and Grant’s adeptness in sniffing out value and navigating sharp declines in stocks make Oakmark a top fund for capitalizing on volatility. Investors not concerned about yield should consider delegating a meaningful portion of their large-cap allocation to the fund.

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