World Biz Info
The source of the best business, financial and legal news
web www.worldbizinfo.com
Business Informations

Guru Focused: Robert Olstein's Short Sells


While it is rather rare that value gurus sell stocks short, Robert Olstein has been selling short in his Financial Alert Fund. The accountant-turned fund manager spots values by looking behind the numbers. In the second quarter of 2004, Robert Olstein sold short American Italian Pasta Co. (PLB) at $31. After about 6 months he covered at $20, easily made more than $1 million for his fund. Currently he is shorting two stocks: Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) and Fleetwood Enterprises Inc (FLE), although things do not always go that smoothly.

Robert Olstein is certainly one of the best money managers (that is why he is in GuruFocus's Hall of Fame). The strategy of looking behind the numbers has brought his fund a 15.5% average annual return over 10 years after all fees. Its only down year was 2002, off 19%. In 2000, the year the tech bubble burst, the fund was up 12%, and in 2001, up 17%.

Robert Olstein started shorting Computer Sciences Corp (CSC) in the first quarter of 2004 at an average price of $41. He said that the accounting of CSC is not in accord with its economic reality, CSC is worth about $30. The price of CSC did not go down, however. He then shorted more shares. But the price of CSC went up, by the fourth quarter of 2004, the price of CSC was $56. It came down some in the first quarter of 2005, Robert Olstein was confident enough to short more shares again. As of the end of the first quarter, his shorting position in CSC totaled 504,500 shares with an average price of $42. As of this writing, the price of CSC is $46.4.

The other short selling of Robert Olstein is Fleetwood Enterprises Inc (FLE). He thinks that Fleetwood Enterprises Inc is worth about $5-6 per share. He sold short 1,195,500 shares of FLE at about $9.2 per share in the first quarter of 2005. Right now Fleetwood has a price of $9.5 per share.

Interestingly, another highly respected value manager, GuruFocus guru, Robert Rodriguez, does not agree with his value peer Olstein. In the fourth quarter of 2004, Rodriguez added 269,500 shares of FLE to his holdings at around $14 per share. As the share price dropped to $9, he added 2,261,900 more shares, which makes his total holding of Fleetwood to 3,714,400 shares.

Who is right, Robert vs. Robert?

Dr. Charlie Tian is the Director of Research of GuruFocus.com, a website tracks the stock picks and market insight of guru investors such as Warren Buffett, George Soros etc.


MORE RESOURCES:

USA Today

Energy Investing in a Carbon-Conscious America
Morningstar.com, IL - 6 hours ago
Given that the 110th Congress produced six carbon cap-and-trade bills and that President-elect Barack Obama has so far stood by his campaign rhetoric ...
climate crusaders set to act in Congress MSNBC
google news commentComment by Frank O'Donnell President, Clean Air Watch
all 1,634 news articles


PepsiCo investing $3 bln in Mexico over next 5 years
MarketWatch - Nov 20, 2008
By Wallace Witkowski , , ) said Thursday it plans to spend up to $3 billion to build its brands in Mexico over the next 5 years. ...


ON INVESTING - Top ten tips for year-end tax strategies...
Valley News Today, IA - 13 hours ago
Track investment expenses - Work with your advisor to keep a full accounting of deductible expenses associated with your investment portfolio. ...


Aljazeera.net

US panel urges action on China currency, investing
Forbes, NY - Nov 20, 2008
By Doug Palmer WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress should pass legislation next year to pressure China to raise the value of its currency and require Beijing's ...
China winning cyber war, Congress warned guardian.co.uk
all 367 news articles


BBC News

Saving and investing: Your questions
BBC News, UK - 45 minutes ago
On Monday's programme Vincent Duggleby will put your questions about saving and investing to a panel of experts. In these financially uncertain times, ...


The No Debt Investing Thesis
Motley Fool - 6 hours ago
With all the other action going on in the markets today, I almost forgot that I added a whole slew of green thumbs to my CAPS scorecard today. ...


Help for mounting 401(k) losses
CNNMoney.com - 17 hours ago
Just telling someone to "stay the course" isn't an adequate answer any time an investor expresses doubt or confusion about an investing or planning strategy ...


International Business Times

ETF Investing: We Get Sick In Recessions! XPH and IHI Healthcare ...
BloggingStocks - Nov 20, 2008
If you see the benefit of this and want to put some money into a health care related investment, look into an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that will give you ...
SpeculatingStocks.com Announces Two Possible Ways to Play a ... PR Web (press release)
all 4 news articles


Buffett firm invests in USG
Chicago Tribune, United States - 13 hours ago
Buffett, known for his investing acumen, is already the the Chicago building-product concern's biggest stockholder. His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. investing ...


Invesco PowerShares Lists Actively Managed US Real Estate Fund on ...
MarketWatch - Nov 20, 2008
The PowerShares Active US Real Estate Fund (PSR) seeks to provide high total return by investing in publicly traded US real estate companies selected using ...

investing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006
web www.worldbizinfo.com