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Forget Warren Buffett: This Fund Manager Has Walloped The Stock Market Over The Past Decade (TEFQX)
I hate to say this, but the author of this article should be ashamed. Look at the long-term history of this fund including before the 2009 recovery began compared to Berkshire or the S&P 500 and there's no comparison. You can do this by either clicking the "Maximum" link or entering an earlier start date on this chart which goes back to September, 1999 if you adjust it, then add the S&P 500 Benchmark and Berkshire: quotes.morningstar.com/chart/fund/chart?t=TEFQX®ion=usa&culture=en-US To compare a pure tech fund to Berkshire or the broad market is absurd to begin with but especially misleading if you don't include the fund's previous history before 2009 as we've been in a super bull market for tech ever since. Since 1999, this fund even lags the average tech fund, which is an apter comparison.
Looking at even this fund's ten year record is misleading. It used to be a player in an even narrower niche - e-commerce. (Think about this fund launching in Sept. 1999 to get a sense of how far off Landis was.)
Effective April 30, 2010, Firsthand Funds will change the name of Firsthand e-Commerce Fund to Firsthand Technology Opportunities Fund. ... The new name, however, reflects the adoption of a broader investment strategy by the Fund. Beginning on April 30, 2010, the Fund intends to invest at least 80% of its assets in high-technology companies in the industries and markets that the Fund’s investment adviser believes hold the most growth potential within the technology sector. After that date, the Fund will no longer be restricted to investing that portion of its assets in securities of e-commerce companies. ...
Assets in the ( TVFQX) Firsthand Technology Value fund, once among the most high-profile of the category, have declined from some $2.5 billion at their peak to $948 million today, forcing the firm to retrench for the second time.
Friday's layoffs, which included three research analysts, brings the firms total head count to 33 people, including three analysts. Firsthand first reduced its workforce on Sept. 24, 2001, when it let go 15 of its 65 workers, including two analysts. ...
The Tech Value fund, which was down 51% year-to-date as of Friday ...
Other funds in the Firsthand family haven't fared all that well of late, either. Its ( TIFQX) Technology Innovators fund is down 54% year to date. ( TLFQX) Technology Leaders has fallen 36% since the start of the year, and ( GTFQX) Global Technology is down 40% year to date.
What separated Kevin Landis from other tech-fund managers in the mid-1990s was that he'd actually worked in Silicon Valley and knew about semiconductors. ...
"They were industry insiders who had buddies who were in the same hot tub as the venture capitalists, and therefore were going to lead them to the next new thing," Kinnel [Morningstar] said. "It was more hype than reality."
In 1999, though, it was the returns of Technology Value and smaller sibling Firsthand Technology Leaders TLFQX that were unreal, up 190% and 153%, respectively. Had you split $20,000 evenly between these two funds in January 1997, you'd have been sitting on $115,000 just 26 months later. Fast-forward 10 years: The two investments were worth about $32,000. ...
Landis was ebullient as well about Firsthand e-Commerce Fund TEFQX, +0.23% which came to market in September 1999 and didn't have a positive year until 2003. "Our timing couldn't have been worse," he said, but pointed out that the e-commerce fund's performance for the past five years has been strong, posting a 10.1% annualized gain that puts it at the head of its class.
Comments
quotes.morningstar.com/chart/fund/chart?t=TEFQX®ion=usa&culture=en-US
To compare a pure tech fund to Berkshire or the broad market is absurd to begin with but especially misleading if you don't include the fund's previous history before 2009 as we've been in a super bull market for tech ever since. Since 1999, this fund even lags the average tech fund, which is an apter comparison.
AS the past decade was mentioned, here are the total return numbers starting at March 9, 2009:
--- TEFQX = +621 %
--- FSPTX = +602 %
--- SPY = +403 %
Apparently, Fidelity Select Technology also "walloped" the market.
TEFQX vs FSPTX vs SPY chart below
CHART BEGIN 1999
Wait, there was market history before 2009 and the 10-year chart? WHO KNEW???
• Ignore financial porn
• Ignore posting porn
REgards,
Ted
Regards,
OJ
Good advice, though you could argue they are one and the same depending on venue.
A couple more blasts from Firsthand's past:
The Street, Firsthand Funds Again Swings the Ax, July 15, 2002
Marketwatch, Former Internet-fund superstars, 10 years after the dot-com bust, March 8, 2010