Fidelity Honchos Bearish on Financials

Anthony Bolton, manager of Fidelity Investments’ Special Situations Fund in the U.K. for nearly 30 years—and who has turned out an average annual return of 19.5% in that time—is bearish on financials and mining stocks, The Wall Street Journal’s “Letter From the City” column reports this morning.

Bolton, whose following across the pond nears that of Peter Lynch’s and whose “put”calls have been spot-on, especially on M&A’s and complex derivatives this year, is evidently worth at least a listen.

Bolton, nicknamed “The Quiet Assassin” for his ruthless attacks on inept, overpaid CEOs, says the banking crisis is the worst he has seen in his 38-year career.

Meanwhile, Fidelity alumn and Peter Lynch trainee Steven Ledger, now manager of the $25 million Merriman Focus Fund, says he is wary of “all the investment banks and some other big-cap financial services stocks whose prices we felt didn’t reflect their balance sheet.” Ledger is even short on JPMorgan because of its exposure to credit default swaps.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.