Value Managers Expect Market to Drop Further

Mutual Fund managers who specialize in buying when stocks bottom out are sitting tight, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That’s because they say the 3.3% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average last week is probably just the start. 

“We’ve hardly had a pullback [in stock prices] for five years,” said Donald Yacktman, manager of the Yacktman fund.

But until stocks dip further, Yacktman has 26% of his $431 million fund parked in cash.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being 7%, 8% or 10% [lower] from the peak,” said David Nelson, of the Legg Mason American Leading Companies Trust Fund. But Nelson’s outlook for the year is not negative.

“We are still very, very early in a very, very long-term adjustment phase, said Robert Rodriguez,  who manages the $2.2 billion undervalued small-cap-oriented FPA Capital Fund. That fund has 40% in cash and is waiting for further market declines, as Rodriguez expects weakening corporate earnings and a softening mortgage market to provide even better value-buying opportunities.

“We didn’t do any buying whatsoever, because nothing hit our price targets,” he said.

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.