Going forward, this blog will include posts by my brother, Brandon, as well.
- Michael
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Monday, December 8, 2008
Some thoughts
It's been quite some times since I last posted. I think I last posted when I was still in New York City... I miss it greatly.
I have been back in Oregon now for about four months. I just finished my first final exam for the fall term and now am more ready than ever to pack up my car and hit I-5 headed south for Medford. A lot has happened this term...and in the last month I was home for the summer.
You may know that at the end of last school-year, I rose to the position of Portfolio Manager of the Oregon State Investment Group's Large-Cap Core Fund. It is a $1 million endowment given to us by the Oregon State University Foundation to manage real equity. The market has slowly been decaying, it seems, for around a year now. However, it was hit the worst in September and October, 2008, when the financial industry more-or-less fell apart. Lehman Brothers was left for dead by the government, AIG was "bailed out"...and many prominent firms that once ruled the Street no longer existed. It was very saddening, actually making me sick to my stomach to think about. It was an interesting time to be made Portfolio Manager of $1 million as a senior in college. It still is. We fully invested our cash into equities on October 14, 2008. Since inception, our fund is down 7.63%, compared to the our benchmark (S&P 500), down 10.16%. While most fund managers would be overjoyed with outperforming their benchmark, I am unsettled. It is hard to take losses. I know it is unrealized, but it is still a loss for the foundation. I like to make money... and I want to make money for the foundation. Absolute returns are what I fight for, regardless of the market environment.
We began the fund in Select Sector SPDR ETFs just to get our sector allocation in place. As we went further into the term, we had a few stocks that were pitched as BUYS. Of those, we purchased eight: NKE (+28% since purchase), DNA (+5% since purchase), GIS (+4% since purchase), EXC (+1% since purchase), HPQ (-8% since purchase), QCOM (-13% since purchase), ITW (-13% since purchase), BBT (-17% since purchase). As you can see, we've made some outstanding purhcases. For our holdings that are down, we still believe in the fundamental strength of the companies going into the future. We are keeping our eye on BBT, trust me.
That was just a brief portfolio update for now.
Michael
I have been back in Oregon now for about four months. I just finished my first final exam for the fall term and now am more ready than ever to pack up my car and hit I-5 headed south for Medford. A lot has happened this term...and in the last month I was home for the summer.
You may know that at the end of last school-year, I rose to the position of Portfolio Manager of the Oregon State Investment Group's Large-Cap Core Fund. It is a $1 million endowment given to us by the Oregon State University Foundation to manage real equity. The market has slowly been decaying, it seems, for around a year now. However, it was hit the worst in September and October, 2008, when the financial industry more-or-less fell apart. Lehman Brothers was left for dead by the government, AIG was "bailed out"...and many prominent firms that once ruled the Street no longer existed. It was very saddening, actually making me sick to my stomach to think about. It was an interesting time to be made Portfolio Manager of $1 million as a senior in college. It still is. We fully invested our cash into equities on October 14, 2008. Since inception, our fund is down 7.63%, compared to the our benchmark (S&P 500), down 10.16%. While most fund managers would be overjoyed with outperforming their benchmark, I am unsettled. It is hard to take losses. I know it is unrealized, but it is still a loss for the foundation. I like to make money... and I want to make money for the foundation. Absolute returns are what I fight for, regardless of the market environment.
We began the fund in Select Sector SPDR ETFs just to get our sector allocation in place. As we went further into the term, we had a few stocks that were pitched as BUYS. Of those, we purchased eight: NKE (+28% since purchase), DNA (+5% since purchase), GIS (+4% since purchase), EXC (+1% since purchase), HPQ (-8% since purchase), QCOM (-13% since purchase), ITW (-13% since purchase), BBT (-17% since purchase). As you can see, we've made some outstanding purhcases. For our holdings that are down, we still believe in the fundamental strength of the companies going into the future. We are keeping our eye on BBT, trust me.
That was just a brief portfolio update for now.
Michael
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
The ones who matter most...
I just want to say how blessed I am for the group of people I call my family. I have the most amazing parents in the world. I have a brother who is very smart and very passionate about the things he is interested in. Also, I am truly thankful for all of my grandparents. I am very grateful for all of the love and support everyone has given me over the years.
I work hard and will continue to work my hardest to make all of you proud.
I'm off to bed. Had a long and hard day.
Love,
Michael
I work hard and will continue to work my hardest to make all of you proud.
I'm off to bed. Had a long and hard day.
Love,
Michael
Friday, July 25, 2008
Barron's Article: June 23, 2008
Two of the guys I work for at ClearBridge were featured in Barron's on June 23, 2008. Click the picture to read the article.
(picture from Barron's article)
(picture from Barron's article)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I love it...
I walked around Manhattan tonight... well, just from the corner of 5th and Central Park South, down 7th Ave to 40th street. It was just amazing... really nice night, amazing weather, amazing crowd of people. I always like walking through Times Square because of the energy... all the lights and all the people. Even at 10 p.m. Crazy.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Check it out!
Check out this blog! http://jplem.blogspot.com/
He is a good friend of mine at OSU and I enjoyed what he has so far and look forward to what he writes in the future... Also, check out his pictures on his Flickr page...just click the "My Flickr" link on the right hand side of his blog.
Take care everyone.
Love,
Mike
He is a good friend of mine at OSU and I enjoyed what he has so far and look forward to what he writes in the future... Also, check out his pictures on his Flickr page...just click the "My Flickr" link on the right hand side of his blog.
Take care everyone.
Love,
Mike
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