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.
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Charles
Thank you sma3! We are spending this summer in northwest again. I have no quiet place I can be before noon eastern (9 am here). Library opens at 9am! I've set up a session for Friday, 2 pm eastern ... posted on board. But, if that does not work, just call me at 805 468 9599 ... if I can pick up I will. Hopefully, can pick a day where you can attended from noon on. Very happy to do! c
Hey man, been waiting for you to weigh-in on my last post...HYLD.
Currently, holding steady with sweet six: RNSIX, AQRIX, WBMIX, SFGIX, FAAFX, DODBX and little bit of BAC.
Like the great one says: "Sometimes doing nothing is wise behavior." Steady…
Catch highlights three other high yield funds worthy of consideration: SPHIX, DIHYX, DHOIX. Each has outperformed HYLD on a total return basis:
Their yields, however, have been lower than HYLD, but impressive nonetheless: 6.22, 6.99, and 7.56%,…
Hi MJG.
You are about 40 kft over my head with this thread.
I am fascinated by your paragraph: "Numerous studies demonstrate that expert decisions and forecasts are almost always inferior to those made by computer analytical models. Statistics pro…
Cool.
I got interested in Ed Thorp because of Scott Patterson's portrail of him in The Quants. He is also interviewed, profoundly and at length, by Jack Schwager in Hedge Fund Market Wizards. Amazing man.
He once exploited the odds at Blackjack, b…
Good grief, I've inadvertently led this good discussion board down a path to bathroom humor...granted I'm laughing pretty hard right now...fun with hank and Catch it is.
David, please forgive me.
I mean, consider the awful Money Life audio show with Chick Jaffe our own David participated in.
It's just hard to put best foot forward in these popular media venues.
Come on guys. You're being too grumpy.
These are three nerds, put on the spot, national/global TV, sitting awkwardly on unflattering stools, across from two smiling, candy-coated, air-heads (meant in the kindest way).
Did you really expect a Charl…
"...formulation relies solely upon two components: a fundamental element and a speculative element."
"The fundamental element has two sub-contributors: a corporate profit growth estimate and a dividend yield estimate."
"The speculative element is …
I think this weeding-out is healthy.
Let's face it, most ETFs and Mutual Funds (and I suspect Hedge Funds) are just asset collectors, like Ed Thorpe warns...few have an edge against the market.
The only thing they will guarantee is a management fe…
Very cool.
My wife MJ and her sister will be staying at Disney Swan for an Epcot and Disney World get-away during first week of November.
Great time of year to be in Orlando. Love the boardwalk. Love dining at the bar of the Flying Fish restaurant…
Not much of a surprise, seems like.
Actually, I do not think Wall Street likes surprises.
So, steady as she goes.
Let's climb our way out of this hole.
One quarterly report after another.
Onward, upward.
Mr. Redleaf is, in fact (as David points out in October letter), shorting small caps in his Whitebox Tactical Opportunities Fund WBMIX, which I do own.
Here is his justification, from June '12 Market Commentary:
"Far better than the “pure” hedge i…
Thanks scott, Kenster, as always.
scott, gotta tell ya, very much appreciate your perspectives on future banking (I agree), the way you articulate importance of education (for the masses) in investing, independent perspectives on funds, the desire …
Um, probably just me, but I'm not seeing the automatic link on the five letter fund symbol when posting to the Discussions page. Am I doing something wrong?
Yes, keeper. Heathbob and MikeM are spot-on. Hard to think of a better stock picker than Mr. Berkowitz available to us mere mortals. I appreciate his rationale for buying a stock, his case studies defending them, his willingness to be independent an…
Thanks Vintage for sharing. I like the points you note in assessing a fund. I think you are saying that a good portion of your decision is based on behaviors of the Fund Manager, in additional to an all-cap/all-aspect investment domain. I too have s…
scott, fundalarm, David, hank.
"These sorts of funds are going to be volatile, given the nature of the underlying sectors - they are not trying to protect you from downside. The intent is to protect you, over time, from rising costs/inflation and t…
Disappointing to me that folks like Christian Wagner, founder and chief investment officer of Longview Capital Management LLC, get portrayed as modern day risk managers.
Here's strategy from the Longview site, emphasizing "Downside Management."
A…
Reply to @msf: I agree. I'm sensitive to it also. SFGIX will need to prove itself over the longer run against top-notch funds like MACSX. But for now, I'm happy.
Reply to @scott: Man, that "value" in technology question is profound stuff. If value means only under-appreciated, it should not matter. But if value means price/book, you are spot-on, since "book value" for a tech company can vanish in a flash. Th…
Thanks fundalarm. I think your observation is precisely my growing concern. Like scott's warning to tech companies that "need to have been getting it right yesterday, with how fast technology is moving." Perhaps same is true for wealth management co…
Here is D&C's commentary on HPQ from June '12 Letter to Shareholders:
"Hewlett-Packard (3.5% of the equity portfolio on June 30) hurt relative results in the first half of the year. Hewlett-Packard, down 21% year to date, has been one of the po…
It hurts.
HPQ slammed today 13%!
HPQ has been a top holding at D&C for years now.
As staunch a proponent as I am for this fund family...has D&C lost it?
Despite the long record. Gold M* rating. Low fees.
Not just 2008 with its chasing o…
I know someone is going to squawk that I am not comparing apples-to-apples, but as a fund owner that switched from WGRNX to SFGIX at first opportunity, I could not help myself...please forgive me:
And, forgive me for this: I looked to see if J.R.…
Reply to @scott: Man, we need to start paying you commission. (Of course, WBMIX was up 0.43% today...that should help.) Can't thank you enough for all you contribute to the healthy debate on MFO. Very much appreciate.
PS. Not yet reading Dark Pools…
Thank you David. Excellent! I too found my way in via Google, just like you advised.
Sir, this article seems consistent with the other posts scott has made, the shareholder letters, and articles I've read. (I did not know hedge funds could not disc…
I'd argue that for dynamically allocated funds like these, it's not so much about whether you invest with the index...but when you invest with the index. Those of us that invested with index have done very well this past year, but those who invested…
I think M* should publish a running tally of its fund Picks/Pans and/or their latest color-coded, five-pillar rating score by year. A historical and unabashed record of this difficult arena of fund recommendation and implied prediction. Ultimately, …
Why is it that this report by Jaffe seems a bit disingenuous? In retrospect, I guess it is easy to point to the flaws of this $1.9B fund.
But it was not so bad for M* to give it a "Pan." In fact, M* rates JAWWX "Neutral." No negative factors in any…
Thanks fundly, fascinating.
Here's link to the article you recommended:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/baldwin/2012/09/06/make-easy-money-from-fund-swaps/