{"id":39200,"date":"2013-06-21T11:54:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T15:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=39200"},"modified":"2013-06-21T11:54:41","modified_gmt":"2013-06-21T15:54:41","slug":"mid-year-check-up-how-is-the-investing-all-star-team-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/06\/21\/mid-year-check-up-how-is-the-investing-all-star-team-doing\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid-Year Check-Up: How is the Investing All Star Team Doing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By The Sizemore Letter<\/u><\/a> <\/p>\n

I genuinely enjoy following Barron\u2019s<\/i> Roundtable every year (see \u201cShifting Winds<\/a>\u201d).\u00a0 The venerable old rag puts together a team of 10 outspoken money managers and allows them to do the journalistic equivalent of a cage fight.\u00a0 The participants are free to grill each other over their recommendations, and it can get pretty intense.\u00a0 Some years, I like the recommendations on offer, and other years I don\u2019t.\u00a0 But it always leaves me with something to think about.<\/p>\n

Well, we\u2019re about halfway through 2013; let\u2019s see how Barron\u2019s<\/i> some of the investing all-star team are doing so far.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll start with the Bond King himself, Bill Gross<\/strong>.\u00a0 Gross is having a rough ride in 2013; none of his recommendations are positive on the year.\u00a0 The SPDR Gold Trust (<\/span>GLD<\/a>)<\/span><\/b> is down 15%, and the Pimco Total Return ETF ($<\/span>BOND<\/a>), BlackRock Build America Bond Trust ($<\/span>BBN<\/a>)<\/b> and Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund ($<\/span>PTY<\/a>)<\/b> are down 0.2%, 5.4% and 2.6%, respectively.<\/p>\n

He may very well be the most talented bond investor in history, but even Gross took a hit by the sudden spike in Treasury yields in May.\u00a0 I consider it impressive that his flagship fund, BOND, held up as well as it did.\u00a0 It is a testament to Gross\u2019 skill as a manager.\u00a0 Gross reiterated his recommendation on PTY, expecting 12-month total returns in the 15% range.<\/p>\n

Felix Zulauf has one notable success\u2014his correct call on the short yen \/ long Japanese equities trade\u2014and two notable failures\u2014his bet on gold and on emerging markets.\u00a0 His recommendation of the WisdomTree Japan hedged equity ETF ($<\/span>DXJ<\/a>) <\/b>was up 12.7% before he exited it, and his recommendations of the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF ($<\/span>EWZ<\/a>), iShares FTSE China 25 ETF ($<\/span>FXI<\/a>) <\/b>and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF ($<\/span>EEM<\/a><\/b>) were down 10.6%, 12.6% and 8.0%, respectively, before he closed them out.<\/p>\n

Zulauf was not the only manager to be on the wrong side of emerging markets this year; yours truly held shares of FXI in my Covestor Tactical ETF Portfolio<\/a> before selling in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Zulauf is now \u201clong volatility\u201d via VIX futures and recommends shorting Hong Kong stocks via the iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF ($<\/span>EWH<\/a>)<\/b> and shorting the Turkish, Mexican and Polish currencies.<\/p>\n

Brian Rogers<\/strong> has had a nice run in 2013, and all of his recommendations are showing gains: PNC Financial Group ($<\/span>PNC<\/a>)<\/b>\u201417.8%, Kohl\u2019s ($<\/span>KSS<\/a>)<\/b>\u201423.0%, Apache ($<\/span>APA<\/a>)<\/b>\u20147.0%, Avon Products ($<\/span>AVP<\/a>)<\/b>\u201451.3%, Legg Mason ($<\/span>LM<\/a>)<\/b>\u201428.7% and General Electric ($<\/span>GE<\/a>)<\/b>\u201411.6%.<\/p>\n

Not a bad run.\u00a0\u00a0 Rogers reiterates his buy recommendations on all but Avon Products and adds a recommendation to the cruise line company Carnival ($<\/span>CCL<\/a>)<\/b>, which has had a run of terrible publicity of late.\u00a0 Rogers considers it an attractive contrarian pick with a sweet 3.1% dividend.<\/p>\n

Meryl Witmer also has a spotless record thus far.\u00a0 Her three recommendations from January\u2014Spectrum Brands Holdings ($<\/span>SPB<\/a>), Chicago Bridge & Iron ($<\/span>CBI<\/a>) and Tribune Company ($<\/span>TRBAA<\/a>)\u2014<\/b>are up 29.7%, 28.2% and 12.7%, respectively.\u00a0 Chicago Bridge & Iron was a recent purchase by Warren Buffett<\/a>\u2019s Berkshire Hathaway ($<\/span>BRK-A<\/a>),<\/b> putting Witmer in good company.<\/p>\n

Witmer added German chemicals company Lanxess (<\/span>Germany:LXS<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong> to her recommendations.\u00a0 Lanxess is largely a play on a rebound in the European tire market.<\/p>\n

Disclosures: Sizemore Capital is long BOND. This article first appeared on MarketWatch.<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>to\u00a0Sizemore Insights<\/em>\u00a0via e-mail today.<\/p>\n

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