Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Reply to @MikeM: Saw that. Don't have any thoughts on RE (REITs) as inflation hedges. Aren't many REITs small caps? Wife holds PRNEX at 5% of Roth as inflation hedge. Haven't really given PRAFX much thought. At one time, thought it was going to…
Reply to @hank: Hank, thanks. I thought it was generally the case that mild inflation is good for stocks, but that serious inflation is not (but is otherwise okay for NR funds).
Cheers.
D.S.
Reply to @BobC: Bob, for the record, what do "fund crashes" look like? If you're the last to exit a fund do you end up getting shares redeemed for less than NAV?
Shame what's happening at Artio.
BobC -- thanks very much for this update. I'm in BJBHX, wife is in BJBGX. We really like the latter. Had no idea there was such a problem at ART -- I did know that their global fund never seemed to find its footing. I'd love to find a replacemen…
Reply to @Heathbob: I can corroborate what you say about Royce. Wife and I were both long-time holders of Royce funds, and generally quite pleased. Now it seems that every Royce manager is being put on duplicate/"copy cat" funds; and Royce is cons…
Reply to @scott: Good insights as always, scott. I have to admit, my experience with CGMFX has soured me on other momentum-type funds. I'm strongly thinking of moving toward indices for momentum, and active management for deep-value.
My father ac…
Reply to @catch22: Doesn't seem like we've had sufficient, sustained upticks for Heebner's style to pay off.
As Scott notes, I don't know why CGM hasn't been shorting.
I track my "lifetime gains" on all my holdings. Still down quite a bit on CGM…
Tell me about it. I've held CGMFX for several years at about 5-10% of portfolio, and done well with it. Until 2009. Ugh.
Problem with Heebner is, if there's no trend in the market, his investing prowess fizzles.
"Heebner is Buying". That makes me chuckle. Heenber is always buying. His portfolio turnover rate last year was north of 400% . The problem is, Heebner's investment style appears to be worthless unless there is clear momentum to the market.
Reply to @Investor: You might want to check out the book "13 Bankers". Simon Jonhson (think he's an MIT prof of econ) appears to be in agreement with you. System still very very broken. Expect another banking crisis, soon.
http://13bankers.com/
Ouch. I hold a handful of JPM shares. Should have bailed when it was at $45 not too long ago (still below what I bought it at circa 2005). Hey, but I'm still raking in that 2.95% dividend, though. For now.
Scott, your comments make a lot of sense. Thanks for posting the investment commentary.
I do believe there is increasing demand for dividend paying stocks, which could make them "growth" candidates. The number of firms coming out with dividend/in…
Good points, Scott. Wife and I both own DODFX and have even looked at DODWX. But I've read lately that key members of the team that built DODFX's record have retired. The fund still has a strong record, but the firm has made some remarkable blund…
I believe they also have a majority stake in Third Avenue and Tweedy Browne. They seem to like the focused, deep-value type funds.
I've always wondered if AMG is a hinderance (my wife holds Tweedy Funds). Royce, for example, has changed radically…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Max, I had to double-check that to make sure I read it correctly. 89% in top 3? That's downright Berkowitzian. Talk about conviction !
Reply to @claimui: Dreifus runs only two funds. Until the Legg Mason take-over he ran just the one fund. In the past year or so, after Dreifus got some big recognition for side-stepping the 2008 debacle, Royce comes out and announces the launch of…
Reply to @claimui: I hold this fund in my Roth and am pleased with it. The name is, as far as I can tell, just the name. Perhaps its related to the fund's role in Royce's earlier lineup. But I still think it has merits regardless of the name.
RY…
Thanks Ted.
The article lists about 6+ positions that Berkowitz trimmed. Given that his funds are so highly concentrated (and then, in financials and related), I'm wondering if it wasn't likely he was selling to meet redemptions or re-establish cas…
Reply to @Heathbob: RYVPX tanked because Royce changed managers. Whitney George, one of Royce's stars who was recently promoted to Co-CIO and Managing Director, used to run RYVPX in its better days. Royce pulled its usual bait and switch and put S…
Tweedy Browne is always in the running for this award, it seems. Their performance during down markets is the key. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but my wife is real happy with TB for their steady risk-averse strategy. And, despite their hig…
Good news / bad news.
Bad news: OAKBX has been a real solid performer these past several years (and is an anchor in my Roth portfolio). Studzinski was a part of that.
Good news: Oakmark has a pretty deep bench; I'm sure they'll have someone capa…
Let me piggyback on this thread and ask -- is there a preferred backup software you all would recommend?
I bought a new Lenovo notebook computer. It keeps prompting me to specify either Lenovo Backup or Microsoft Backup as my default backup softwa…
I have to laugh -- MF was a one-time regular on JPM's Analyst Focus List (with something like a $12 price target).
I actually almost bought some at $5.
Corzine strikes again. Everything he touches seems to turn to crud.
Reply to @BobC: Tell me about it. When Fernandez hopped on board, Berkowitz raved about the hire. Said something like "...waited a long time for someone like this to come along...".
Now the market changes, the opportunity set changes, and Fernand…
Reply to @Greg: The two new hires -- is Fraenkel the guy who serves on Barron's roundtable; and is Schmerin the guy who was involved with TARP?
Its possible the Fernandez departure was amicable (Berkowitz says "...hopes to work with him again..."…
Reply to @Shostakovich: Guru focus sums up the recent circus at Fairholme.
http://www.gurufocus.com/news/148701/fairholme-fund-comanager-fernandez-quits
Shame I never took any profits on this one.
Bruce may have ascended to his level of incompete…
Reply to @AndyJ: No kidding; with all the negative press Berkowitz has been getting lately; there has to be a story here. Perhaps its time to end my experiments with "active managers".
I guess I have trouble understanding some of what is going on in this article.
Obviously, FAIRX is doing poorly. But deep value funds are very often out of step with the market. If you want the market, buy an index.
I bought the fund because I t…
Reply to @Greg: Bruce also lost a lot of his cash reserves when people left the fund. Not sure where I saw that figure, but the number of folks cashing out of FAIRX was pretty remarkable. As I've noted here before, I think Bruce brought some of th…
FWIW -- my understanding that Bruce wanted to buy JOE as a way of establishing a hedge-fund-like or Berkshire-like vehicle within the stipulations of a mutual fund. I think Romick of FPA has tried to do the same. I admit that I don't understand al…
Sorry -- should have also asked for some input on how your portfolio is constructed and what your timeline is.
I find it interesting that some of his funds are down to around 15-20% cash. A while back they were well over 40% cash (as was, I believ…
I've looked at Forester's funds. They're probably a very good pick for the right investor. They're very conservative and will tend to lag even other "deep value" type funds. But based on my analyses (from a while back) I came to the conclusion t…
