Taking a page out of the hedge-fund playbook, the Needham Growth Fund is demonstrating that all bad things must come to an end and laying the groundwork for a good, new beginning. The Boston-based firm grew 26% in the past 12 months, according to Bloomberg News, by applying a contrarian strategy that relies on picking stocks in companies that have gone through the wringer for one reason or another. "When the market doesn't want them, that' s usually a food time to jump in," manager Vincent Gallagher told Bloomberg News. And jump he and partner James Kloppenburg did with stock in American International Group, Tyco International and other companies whose troubles sent their respective share prices into a downward spiral. Gallagher figures, "The worst is behind the company...It's a great company that has been beaten up by the press and by politicians." The hedge strategy kicks in, he told Bloomberg News, by taking short positions for a couple of years, and adding to that when the market rallies.