Tom, I like long Ascend/Short Bay as a paired trade, though I have used 3Com in my income portfolio for the short side.
I managed many funds. The Godzilla was American Capital Govt. Securities, which peaked at $10 billion right before I quit. To put that into perspective, Magellan was at $9.2 billion at the time. However, there were a couple of bigger funds: namely Franklin and Putnam Govt. Securities. I had plans to zoom past both of them in assets, but my bosses decided they no longer wanted to make money and they wanted to follow the trend. Ye olde contrarian couldn't stomach that. The fund, renamed Van Kampen-American Capital Govt (there is actually two of them as the old Van Kampen also had a fund I could outperform with one hand tied behind my back -g-) now has assets of a little over $2 billion, down a solid 80 pct. And the two years when I managed single-handedly are still the best two years in the fund's history, despite falling interest rates. Of course, by using brain dead mortgages as the base for the fund, they can't possibly perform very well.
I also managed The Nationwide Life Insurance Variable Trust, and supervised the managers of the American Capital Federal Mortgage Trust and The Common Sense Funds. On an interim basis, I also managed American Capital Convertible Securities (ACS) and The Harbor Fund. But these were all tiny things compared to the Godzilla.
I have had letters printed in Barron's Mailbag section a score of times over the decades. Some I remember include Oct. 7, 1996, Jan 15, 1996, Oct 9, 1995, and May 13, 1996. If you still have those oldies, I am calling the fire marshal. -g- MB |
