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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…
Reply to @scott: Scott, like you I'm a fan of Templeton Global Bond (wife and I both own it). Since you seem to have been a fan of that fund for a while, let me ask you -- does it ever concern you that the fund is generally 99% sovereigns?
Occasio…
To a good extent, Bruce brought this on himself.
He did little to stem the flow of hot money coming in and seemed to seek out publicity wherever he could get it ("...to communicate more efficiently with shareholders..." was his argument). Sure, …
In taxable
Bought a small bit of FESGX yesterday in taxable, while also selling out of a small position in OAKEX. I'm taking Grantham at his word and guessing that over the near term small cap international is not the place to be for the medium ter…
Arrogance, greed, selfishness, cowardice, apathy.
Never imagined I'd live to see a mess like this.
Still don't understand all the origins, much less the consequences. But I very much have the sense that we're watching the sun set.
We are adrift.
Skipper, I'd put some international bonds in there too and maybe a dividend stock fund. I think you're too light on international currencies and international exposure. FWIW.
Romick addressed this on FPACX's most recent conference call. He has no intentions to close the fund. He's finding there are advantages to having a larger fund that aren't available to smaller funds. Also thinks small caps aren't where the action…
I suppose this would be a problem with holding any mutual fund from the same shop. I own two Oakmark funds, however (OAKEX and OAKBX), while holding OAKGX in taxable. I did a quick look about 6-9 months ago and found only about a 15%-20% overlap i…
Janus funds have always freaked me out a little bit. Aside from their legal issues, wasn't there a period where something like 80% of their funds were basically all the same portfolio?
I've looked at their offerings from time to time, but could ne…
On your original Brillo story -- my brother-in-law refers to this as "the silent inflation".
Andy Rooney has done stories on this for years -- how a #8 (or whatever it is) can of coffee is smaller than what it used to be, but is claimed to make the…
AJ -- thanks. And, to be clear on OSTIX -- its not just that its corporates, its lower-grade (HY) corporates. Short duration, and rigorously evaluated using the Osterweis methodology; but from a larger report I obtained from Osterweis it appears t…
