SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: StockHawk who wrote (29184)8/1/2000 11:47:58 AM
From: areokat  Respond to of 54805
 
OT - So, when do we start the G&K mutual fund? <g>

Well, the two portfolios kinda perform that function don't they? Gives anyone interested a number of G & K stocks to check out and also provides an ongoing performance measurement. The wait and watch portfolio does the same with "interesting" potential G & K s.

Tom



To: StockHawk who wrote (29184)8/1/2000 2:07:56 PM
From: BI*RI  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 54805
 
OT G & K Mutual Fund

Funny that you should bring this up. Just this weekend I was reading a Fortune Magazine (7/24/2000, pg.312, "The Right Stuff") article about Ken Kam who used to run Firsthand Funds with Kevin Landis.

"Firsthand Technology fund grabbed No. 1 spot among all U.S. funds on its three-year anniversary, in May 1997, with an average annual return of 52.4% (and it's still no. 1). They were not professional investors or analysts themselves but had on the job experience in their respective areas. They used the unconventional hiring method of looking for people who had specific technical experience rather than classroom knowledge."


Well Kam has left Firsthand and has now started a website where he is inviting investors to set up fantasy funds and run them as if they were actually fund managers. He gives you 1 million dollars to start (if your fund is successful you get more investment money, if not you get hit with redemptions). Essentially you buy and sell stocks as if you were a money manager.

The kicker is that he is looking for good investors who he will hire to run actual funds.

"Kam will track every investor's performance from day one, and when he get a year's worth of data on people who pick medical stocks (his specialty), he'll as the top five to help him manage the $50 million Marketocracy Medical Specialists fund. After he collects three years of performance on everybody, Kam will launch a family of funds run by the top stock pickers in whatever sectors or investing styles yield the best results."

"I don't care where you went to school or where you work, " says Kam.....If you can produce results, you can be a fund manager for us."


For credentials: "Kam walked away from Firsthand Funds when it had $1 billion in assets under management...... He took the Firsthand Medical Specialists fund with him and renamed it Marketocracy Medical Specialists fund in March."

"Kam has done all the necessary legwork with the SEC to establish his own fund company... Now all he needs is the stock-picking talent. That shouldn't be too hard to find. Whoever wins Kam's competition will get a similar compensation package to the pros'."

"I think we're going to find people who are better than me," Kam says. "Clearly there are lots of individual investors who are better than the pros. This is one way they can turn pro."


Wouldn't be great to see a G & Ker or G & Kers get their own fund?

marketocracy.com

PS: The ticker BIRIX has already been taken (BI*RI Technology Fund)



To: StockHawk who wrote (29184)8/1/2000 2:54:46 PM
From: Rick  Respond to of 54805
 
I thought we already did.

FAQ question "F":

Is all this work worth it?
"You be the judge. But, it is public knowledge that we discussed the advantages of holding QCOM in the spring of 1999, Gemstar and JDSU that summer, and CREE and NTAP last fall. Now, no one knows if this year we will be as fortunate, but with your help we're certainly going to try."

{Half-time score = The Nasdaq composite through the 4th of July, 2000 was down 1.9 %, the G and K portfolio on average was up 28.8%, the W & W portfolio on average was up 63.8% and the doubles portfolio was on average up 31%.}

- Fred



To: StockHawk who wrote (29184)8/1/2000 4:20:32 PM
From: roonz  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 54805
 
So, when do we start the G&K mutual fund?

Before I respond the that admittedly non-serious question, I would like to apologize if I contribute a little bloat to the thread. I am approaching this question seriously, and in doing so I am diverging from the focus of the thread. Not only the elders, but most of you who contribute seem to earn the right to digress by making solid contributions with technical expertise and analysis. I haven’t done that and hope you will forgive this digression if you don’t actually enjoy it or find it helpful. Anyway...

I am certain that if a few of the elders got together and actually created such a fund, it would become immensely popular (not to mention successful). The marketing is already underway. Many keep noting how the media is beginning to use (misuse) the Gorilla term(s), and there is a rising awareness of Gorilla status. At the same time, I would think that there are many folks that have read or know the basics of the GG, but don't feel confident that they have the skills to come to the correct conclusions about Gorilla status, much less royalty plays. Their first logical step is to go searching the web to find if the authors have posted a list of the Gorillas and Kings, and to find a short description of the status of each company. Then, I think most would want to find a list of all the baskets of stocks under consideration, and the status of each stock in each basket.

With some persistence, they would arrive at this incredible thread. And they would find the existing Gorilla portfolios. But these portfolios are static (simply lists with current values). It takes energy and persistence for the new Gorilla Gamer to read the thousands of posts on this thread needed to begin to keep up with the current discussion. Even then, only a small percentage will understand the technology issues that are the deciding factors which determine the GG status of a company under discussion.

I, for example, am a registered architect, have owned and run a printing business, have done technical support for Macintosh computers (for over 10 years) and for the last 15 years have primarily been a graphic designer. If we were following one technology, I feel confident that I could put in the effort to understand it fully. But with almost every company we are dealing with different technologies. That leaves me, and I would guess, most folks with reading this thread to see who comes to what conclusions.

For myself, I feel that now I can follow the issues on this thread, and can make reasonable investments based on these issues. But I would think that most people who read TFM would simply like to find out what companies have what status in regard to the GG. As they won’t find that anywhere, or won’t find it easily, I believe many people would be more than thrilled to have the alternative of investing in a legitimate GG fund. I would like to propose that the elders here have the qualifications to create that kind of fund (or at least to pick the stocks).

I also know that there must be other people like me who like to occasionally leave the world of stocks far behind for extended periods -- longer periods than even a conservative GG investor might want to leave their portfolio unchanged. I am pretty new to investing, so perhaps what I would suppose to be a popular sentiment is simply my own.

I would like to thank all the contributors. There must be teeming hordes of lurkers out there devouring your every word.

Ciao, Belli

(I thought I might risk mis-spelling a word in a language other than French.)



To: StockHawk who wrote (29184)8/1/2000 5:15:48 PM
From: willkm3  Respond to of 54805
 
I know of one quasi G&K fund...

Firsthand Technology Leaders

firsthandfunds.com

A brief analysis:

* They hold 30 stocks, 10 of them (37% of assets) are on the G&K or W&W lists.

* They also hold a few Princes (with attitude?): GLW(Fiber), XLNX(PLD's), ALTR(PLD's), TI(DSP's). Including these brings us to 52.5% of assets.

* The rest look like monkeys, chimps and serfs, etc.

* AT&T 5% ?????

* The fund is +15.63% YTD thru 07-31-00

* I have spoken with one of the managers and he has read TFM and thinks highly of Moore's ideas. However, they do not run this fund as a pure G&K fund(obviously). They look at sectors in tech and hold the stocks of the firms that are in the lead.

Maybe Ken Ham has a good idea. G&K & W&W have more than double the YTD perf.

Regards,
willkm3