Bill Miller

nodoodahs · Moderator Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 2166

Every time I think about yachts, I flash back to the Goldi Hawn movie "Overboard" where Edward Herrman is watching "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and drooling over the "top ten most luxurious yachts"
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Odysseus · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 7:35 pm Post subject:

Aha. Perhaps I have discovered the REAL reason for Bill Miller's implosion these last 4 years.

Sitting in the 'gentlemen's smoker' this morning I was thumbing through the latest issue of "International Yachts Magazine.' They obviously have me confused for someone who has money. Probably FIDO sold them my name.

Anyway, there are a lot of Feadship Yachts featured. As an aside, this issue bulks up at 349 pages. Reminded me of an old Sears Roebuck catalog. This mag may become one of my leading economic indicators Laughing

Lot of yachts for sale Crying or Very sad

Looking at the history of Feadship, they provide a chronology of the yachts they have built and the owners.

Ole Bill took delivery of the 'UTOPIA', a 71.6 meter yacht direct from the Dutch shipyard in 2004!

Obviously the vessel was mis-named. It should have been called 'SISYPHUS!!!'

Regards,
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Psychic with Alzheimers. I can predict what I will forget.

rffrydr · Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:36 pm Post subject:

Yeah, talk about a "six-sgima" event! When sorrows come.....

But Miller's right: the powers that be are denying him mark to market--even if that's a grave marker. --And that is a lesson for all of us.

This is not a once-in-a-decade event. It will be a long time before we see 2005 again.
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Rubedo · Veteran Poster Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 168

2 more of Miller's holdings have imploded this week, Lehman and AIG. If you're keeping score, Miller also owned Countrywide, Bear Stearns, and Freddie Mac. Not once has he admitted he was wrong on any of these.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/investing/bal-bz.millerfreddie13sep13,0,2043495.story

Bill Miller, chairman of Legg Mason Capital Management, who bought more Freddie Mac shares this summer to become the company's largest shareholder, yesterday criticized the U.S. government's takeover of Freddie and Fannie Mae.

"Most troubling to the market is having private companies seized when they're in compliance with all published capital requirements," Miller said in a conference call yesterday with clients, Bloomberg News reported.

Legg declined to provide a transcript of the call because Miller's call was intended for clients only, according to a company spokeswoman, who confirmed the comments.

Miller's Baltimore-based subsidiary and its affiliate was the largest shareholder of Freddie Mac with a 12 percent stake as of July 31, according to regulatory filings.

Miller's biggest fund, the $9.14 billion Value Trust, held 17.7 million shares of Freddie Mac as of June 30, according to regulatory filings. He also bought 20 million shares for the $4.34 billion Opportunity Trust during July and August, according to regulatory filings. Both funds are down 31 percent this year, compared with the 14 percent drop for the S&P 500.

diesel · Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject:

rffrydr · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

Miller's biggest holdings in "safe" GSEs--he wanted to be long housing it would have been better to double-up on the dreaded homebuilders. So much is lost through "hedging" one's bets. That's a lesson for any market condition. Confused

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Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

mtvk · Veteran Poster Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 242

As regard to Jeremy Grantham:

He was extremely bullish on REITs and Emerging markets in 2002.
He is not a "perma bear" as told by the so called wall street liers.

His projections are common sense based. His theory always been
"reversion to mean". He is saying now, in the next 7 years the
high quality blue chip US stocks will outperform all asset categories.

Wall street pumpers who keep calling him as "perma bear"
like telling every one to keep buying all the time US equities.
They never ever mention about how diversified the portfolio has to be
so that you reduce risk from individual stocks, managers, asset class,
timing etc., at the same time have a good return with all the time
to spend in other things in life.

Odysseus · Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 1:08 pm Post subject:

I cannot link but there is an excellent discussion by Jim Grant in his August 8th issue that contrasts Bill Miller and Grantham.

The jist was that Miller is a really smart guy in Bull markets and Grantham is a really smart guy in all markets.

He chides Grantham for a speech he gave on CNBC in 1998 when he said he expected the S&P to return a negative 1.3% through 2008. The actual number is zero. Grantham was too negative!
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HenryTo · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject:

Massachusetts state pension fund dumps Miller and three other active managers in the domestic equity allocation. Also signals that they will ultimately shift all US equity strategies into pure indexing strategies:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSr4yMDi4uBA&refer=home

HenryTo · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:39 pm Post subject:

I doubt they will kick Bill Miller out of running Legg Mason Value Trust. Legg runs several other fund families, such as Royce, Western Asset, Brandywine, etc. Total assets under management are about $950 billion.

The Legg Mason brand name funds run about $100 billion (in mutual funds, separate accounts, commingled funds, etc) and Bill Miller is their biggest brand name by far (although one can probably count Rob Hagstrom as well). A recovery relative to the S&P 500 this year is probably off the table (it is now down about 35% YTD and trailing the S&P 500 by nearly 19%) but if Miller can put in a solid year in 2009, then they can probably start selling him again:

http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/TotalReturns.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=LMNVX

It is all about gathering assets and I don't know if anyone else at Legg Mason can take on that role. The days of the "star manager" are definitely numbered. How many fund managers at Fidelity, American Funds, or Dodge & Cox can you name?

rffrydr · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:27 am Post subject:

He put on the hedge-fund hat in Yahoo (after faling the same in CFC). If he could have pulled it off....
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Today is the Tomorrow you worried about Yesterday!

diesel · Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:31 am Post subject:

Is Bill Miller Toast?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070401108.html

HenryTo · Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 12:38 pm Post subject:

Bill Miller's interview on Morningstar:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213900505/bctid1541020336

HenryTo · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:41 am Post subject:

Odysseus,

The fund's mantra has drifted between pure value or growth at a reasonable price.

Not quite sure I get your drift. The institutional world drives investment trends and fads but they are subjected to many self-imposed and obviously reaction constraints. In terms of the hedge fund, it is also driven by quarterly and annual performance numbers, and measurements on style drift. Short-term focus can be somewhat bad at mutual funds as well but nowhere near as bad.

best regards,

Henry

Odysseus · Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:09 am Post subject:

Henry,
So institutional money is the dumb money? Not taking issue here. I just want to know who to bet against.

I've never followed Bill Miller so I don't want to step on anyone's toes but his top holdings are Amazon, Yahoo, Ebay, Sears and Fannie Mae? He is a value investor?

The poor guy probably learned to read a balance sheet at ITT Tech. Wait a minute, Fannie's balance sheet is at the Fed. That should make it as sound as the dollar.

Sorry. Just got back from the dentist!
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Psychic with Alzheimers. I can predict what I will forget.