Most of life’s encounters, good or bad in social welfare, present us each individually with the opportunity to choose our own long term benefits and detriments. By circumstance, I was exposed professionally to see Mary Meeker’s high times at Morgan Stanley while the ink was still wet on my undergraduate diploma. I’ll call loosely the phenomenon “Mary’s World”. In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I’d like to offer “Thanks” for the wisdom provided by a youthful exposure to Mary’s World.
Strategies
The notion of “Asset Captivity” among Closed-End Funds doesn’t get much mainstream press. Instead, mainstream press focuses on a primary symptom: the illusion of a Black Friday sale on the New York Stock Exchange. A market price representing a discount to Net Asset Value (“NAV”) is only a relevant bargain if the discount is going to narrow at some point in time. Such occurs less often among funds whose governance choices could conceivable be interpreted as prioritizing Assets Under Management (“AUM”) or billable assets over shareholder value.
On Friday, November 19th, 2010, the market price of Energy Income and Growth Fund (FEN) declined significantly while the Net Asset Value (“NAV”) increased. A market premium narrowing roughly by half in just one day showcases the supply demand dynamics affecting Closed-End Funds (“CEFs”).
In the Dividend Growth model, manager James Hofmann looks for equities that have stable dividends and above average yields. He uses a value-based approach to investing and holds some cash in the model for market timing purposes. Recently, he added tobacco company Lorillard Inc (NYSE: LO) to the model. On […]
The recent inquiry and writing from a Dow Jones reporter whom I respect has inspired me to share a more detailed perspective of the Korea Equity Fund (KEF)
As a day trading model looking for credible growth stories and company news to affect stock price, Management Access (managed by Douglas Estadt) sees a lot of new positions each month. Last month, the model gained many positions including Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) and Ctrip.com International Ltd (NASDAQ: CTRP). […]
In the Systematic Long-Only model managed by Ascendere Associates, the goal is to find stocks and ADRs with the potential for growth at reasonable prices and a market cap greater than $2.5 billion. Let’s take a look at three different positions recently added to the model. The first is American […]
Richard Moore manages the Covestor model Market Comparables by using financial models that have been long refined. He looks at the financial forecast of companies and assesses their potential for earnings growth. During the last few weeks, Moore has added many additional positions to the model. One of these is […]
The Technical Swing model managed by Michael Arold uses technical indicators and movements in the market to determine which equities to add. As a short-term model, the goal is to take advantage of short-term price swings. On November 2nd, Arold added Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to the model. AAPL had […]
Fund (EWD), a fund that attempts to mirror the performance of the MSCI Sweden index. On November 10th, the fund was trading at a discount to NAV. EWD’s price
A risk-averse approach to wealth today demands greater acceptance of what are traditionally “risk assets”. A historically significant rally may be approaching as effective risk tolerance normalizes.
Disclosure: Long TYW, DHG, LBF, and DRP in Well Intentioned Activism Profile Closed End Funds and Tax Advantaged Income (TYW only). Short AOD in Long/Short Opportunistic. On November 9th, 2010 TS&W / Claymore Tax-Advantaged Balanced Fund (TYW) made a press release broadly observed to reflect directional uncertainty in light of […]