24/7 Wall St. » CGMFX

Ken Heebner Endorses Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley (CGMFX, GS, MS)

247wallst — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:43:08 +0000

Ken Heebner of CGM Funds is often a guest on CNBC after the FOMC decision on rates. His sphere of great influence has withered as the CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX) has been hammered. Last year the fund’s price was briefly at $60.00 and now the fund is around $24.00. But Heebner is still followed by many traders and investors and he did give two stocks he likes. He said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) would be the beneficiaries of the consolidation of brokerage firms.

These two firms are no longer TARP firms, so they are able to pay what they want and what they feel they should to recruit talent as it comes available. Unfortunately, there were no great revelations here today.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, Mutual Funds Tagged: CGMFX, GS, MS

Ken Heebner Bailed Out of Commodities (SLB, PBR, CGMFX)

247wallst — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:58:58 +0000

Ken Heebner of the CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX) has made a game-changing move in his portfolio. In a CNBC interview with Erin Burnett, Heenber was asked about his positions in two key stocks in the oil sector Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) and Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR), or Petrobras. Heebner said that because of the slowing in emerging growth markets such as China and India, HE HAS CUT COMMODITY STOCKS DOWN TO UNDER 10% OF THE PORTFOLIO. He said Schlumerger is gone and he’s hanging on to Petrobras, but is watching oil prices. This is a major change. If you go back to his last filing, it showed how Heebner had stuck with commodities. That was hurting him. Based upon how the markets have been performing he hasn’t seen a reprieve from the selling pressure in whatever his new holdings were. With the market drop yesterday, the CGM Focus Fund was down 5.5% at $42.82. Heebner’s performance until recently has been incredible. But the CGM Focus Fund has lost nearly one-third of its value since the end of June.

Jon C. Ogg
September 16, 2008

Guru Investment Watch: Buffett, Icahn, Gates, Peltz, Heebner

247wallst — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:31:14 +0000

This week was a huge week as far as getting to see what the large funds and key money managers or investment gurus were putting into their portfolios. We compiled lists and lists of investment holdings from the great investors. Out of these came investment holdings from Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A; BRK-B), Carl Icahn and Icahn Enterprises, L.P. (NYSE: IEP), Bill Gates and his Cascade investment vehicle, Nelson Peltz and Trian, and finally Ken Heebner’s CGM FOCUS FUND (CGMFX). All of these billionaires or gurus have been broken down individually below.

Every quarter there is a push to see Warren Buffett’s investmentholdings for Berkshire Hathaway. He broke these down into three groupsalphabetically and consolidated these for simplicity.
Buffett’s holdings "A to G"
Buffett’s holdings "H to S"
Buffett’s holdings "T to Z"

Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises is always an interesting watch becausehe can cause waves in so many companies. This quarter we focused onhis biotech and BioHealth sector investments because some seemed odd orleft over and his efforts in Yahoo!, Motorola, and Time Warner arealready known.

Bill Gates and his Cascade Investment LLC vehicle have always beeninteresting to watch because of his investment foresight into trendsthat frequently do not make sense for several quarters and then seemvery obvious. His latest stock investment list has him looking like a garbage man andlooking south towards trends in Mexico, among many others.

Nelson Peltz and his TRIAN FUND MANAGEMENT made some interesting stockchoices, some of which made an impact on share prices. He’s known forfood and restaurant activist changes and this list was very differentthan before.

Ken Heebner’s CGM FOCUS FUND really appears to still have stuck with commodities despite the downturn. His last quarter performance was huge, although this quarter his fund is off to a rock start.

Jon C. Ogg
August 16, 2008

Ken Heebner & CGM Stick With Commodities (CNX, BTU, FCX, PBR, HES, SLB, WFT, X, CGMFX)

247wallst — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:19:44 +0000

While many funds and money managers are under watch, Ken Heebner and the investments in his CGM FOCUS FUND (CGMFX) are perhaps more closely watched than any other in today’s current market. Some may love Warren Buffett and his no non-sense approach, but Ken Heebner actually has a better track record since inception and he is known for blowing out of sectors when he feels he should or can. In fact, you could almost think of the FOCUS FUND as being run more and more like a hedge fund with very loose guidelines on which stocks he can or can’t pick from. The fund also noted about 14% of the total assest that were sold short, so he does make bets against sectors as well. As of June 30, Heebner was still extremely focused on the commodity and global growth stories.

We went through to look for his positions in the Focus Fund that are worth more than $500 Million. Keep in mind that several other positions were just shy of the mark, so the overall values and holdings are better compared down further on at the full list. Here were his top holdings in the CGM FOCUS FUND: CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX), Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX), Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES), Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB), Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT), and United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X).

Over the last 10-years the CGM FOCUS FUND has risen 936.1%, with a5-year return of 355.2%, a 1-year return of 70.7%, and a Q2 performanceof 27%. That hasn’t continued for the first half of Q3. "CGMFX" is anopen-end mutual fund that trades at the net asset value posted eachday. On June 30, 2008 the fund’s share price went out at $61.46. Itwas listed as of the August 14 close at $47.12. That is a drop of23.3%. Conversely, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund that tracks the S&P500 Index actually rose 1.3%. The prior quarter when the Focus fund didso well there was roughly an 11% drop in the S&P 500.

We would caution that just because the markets in commodities andglobal growth have given back many gains in recent weeks, that is notan assurance that Ken Heebner is still active in all of these names.The losses are sharp in some of the names and Heebner is known forhitting the ejection seat without prejudice if he feels something hastopped or if something has changed. It would lead one to believe thatHeebner has stuck with the commodity stocks and global growth stocks orthat his short sales aren’t working. But with his past performance wewon’t rush to any major judgment as we are half way through thequarter. It is very possible that in mid-November his September 30,2008 holdings may be entirely different if Heebner feels a major changeis afoot. Below is the full list of EQUITY holdings (about 94% of thefund) as of June 30, 2008:
SHARES VALUE

ALUMINUM — 0.2%
Century Aluminum Company (CENX)                380,000       $25,266,200
AUTO AND RELATED — 2.7%
Ford Motor Company (F)                            58,883,000       $283,227,230
BASIC MATERIALS — 10.1%
CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX)                         4,600,000       $516,902,000
Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU)                         6,000,000       $528,300,000
COPPER — 8.1%
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)                            4,453,700       $521,929,103
Southern Copper Corporation (PCU)             2,963,700       $316,019,331
FERTILIZER — 2.0%
Potash Corporation of Sask. (POT)                   890,000       $203,427,300
HEAVY CAPITAL GOODS — 4.6%
Cummins Inc. (CMI)                                     7,350,000       $481,572,000
METALS AND MINING — 0.2%
Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK)                               550,000       $26,372,500
MISCELLANEOUS — 4.0%
Tenaris S.A. ADR (TS)                                  5,550,000       $413,475,000
OFFSHORE DRILLING — 5.3%
Atwood Oceanics, Inc. (ATW)                         230,000       $28,598,200
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR)                      10,550,000       $519,376,500
OIL – INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION — 10.5%
Berry Petroleum Company (BRY)                   430,000       $25,318,400
Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ)                550,000       $55,137,500
Devon Energy Corporation (DVN)                   4,050,000       $486,648,000
Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PBR)                      7,414,700       $525,183,201
OIL REFINING — 9.7%
Hess Corporation (HES)                               4,020,000       $507,283,800
Suncor Energy Inc. (SU)                               8,550,000       $496,926,000
OIL SERVICE — 18.6%
Halliburton Company (HAL)                         9,270,000       $491,958,900
National Oilwell Varco (NOV)                         4,130,000       $366,413,600
Schlumberger Limited (SLB)                         4,950,000       $531,778,500
Weatherford International (WFT)                   11,000,000       $545,490,000
ON-LINE SERVICES — 0.4%
Priceline.com Incorporated (PCLN)                330,000       $38,101,800
RETAIL — 0.7%
The Gymboree Corporation (GYMB)                560,000       $22,439,200
Tupperware Brands Corp. (TUP)                      670,000       $22,927,400
Urban Outfitters, Inc. (URBN)                         790,000       $24,640,100
STEEL — 16.9%
ArcelorMittal (MT)                                        4,920,000       $487,424,400
Commercial Metals Co. (CMC)                      440,000       $16,588,000
Mechel OAO ADR (MTL)                               4,690,000       $232,342,600
Nucor Corporation (NUE)                               6,442,500       $481,061,475
United States Steel Corp. (X)                         2,875,000       $531,242,500

TOTAL COMMON STOCKS (stated cost $8,490,315,234) $9,753,370,740

In the quarterly filing with the SEC, CGM’s team noted "We believe theworst of the current financial ordeal is behind us though it is stilltoo early to expect a broad recovery in the economy. Fortunately, webelieve there are bright spots in the economy, areas of strength toprovide select investment opportunities in an otherwise difficultmarket."

Many of Heebner’s picks are victim of the stocks following commodityprices, yet most of his picks are those which he feels are going togrow whether the commodity prices go back up 25% or go down 25%. Sofar Heebner and his team are seeing a rough start and the team may havestuck with the winners for too long. He may have changed positionsalready and he might not have. Either way, he’s still a huge draw andinvestors are going to play close attention to his moves when they can.

Jon C. Ogg
August 15, 2008

The Best Of The Very Best Mutual Funds

247wallst — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:41:38 +0000

Deciding which mutual funds make the best investments is especially hard because there are thousands to pick from. Some are load and some are no-load. Some do well over a year, but poorly over five years. Some do well in up markets and some do better when markets are falling.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the "Best Funds" lists of the publications that have for years devoted a tremendous amount of their editorial effort to evaluating mutual funds. We conducted a "meta-data" study to find out which funds were on more than one list. The number was very small.

Forbes, Money, Smart Money, and Kiplinger do not have much in common in the ways they measure performance. Some of the ratings are based on simple one-year returns. Others weigh in multi-year performance. Still others look at performance volatility. Some funds are measured on how they will fit into a portfolio mix to drive the best and safest long-term pay-back.

Here are the nine funds that made more than one list

Matthews China Fund (MCHFX) Designed to be a long-term China investment which keeps over two-thirds of its capital in securities from that country. On the Smart Money and Forbes lists.

CMG Focus (CGMFX) Long-term appreciation focused and tends to invest in equities of a small number of companies at any one time. On the Forbes, Smart Money, and Kiplinger lists.

Harbor Bond International (HABDX) Invests for total return, primarily in corporate and government bonds in the US and overseas. On the Money and Kiplinger lists.

T Rowe Price Equity Income (PRFDX) Invests in well-established companies with higher than normal yields. On the Money and Kiplinger lists.

Dodge & Cox International (DODFX) Invests for principle and income growth with 80% of assets from outside US. On both the Money and Kiplinger lists.

Fairholme Fund (FAIRX) Invests in no more that 25 equities at one time. May take positions in convertible preferred shares. On Kiplinger and Money lists.

T Rowe Price Emerging Markets Stock (PRMSX) Invests for long-term growth of capital. Eighty percent of investment in emerging markets in Asia, Latin America, and Middle East. On Kiplinger and Money lists.

Oakmark International (OAKIX) Invests in common stocks of companies in at least five countries outside the US at any one time. On Money and Kiplinger lists.

Muhlenkamp (MUHLX) Buys stock and fixed income in companies it believes are undervalued. On both Money and Kiplinger lists.

Additional fund description data from Money.

Douglas A. McIntyre