Legg Mason’s Bill Miller May Be Big Winner In Amazon's Pop

Barron’s Online editor Randy Forsyth offers the following edifying observation about the surge in Amazon.com (AMZN) shares this week following stronger-than-expected financial results on Tuesday:

Probably nobody was smiling more broadly after the big pop in Amazon.com than Bill Miller, the beleaguered manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust [LMVTX], observes Rob Sellar, the affable Kiwi who oversees North American equities for Aberdeen Asset Management.

Amazon is Miller’s sixth-biggest holding, accounting for 4.65% of the fund’s $20 billion in assets, according to Morningstar, and Wednesday’s 25% pop in the stock surely was a big part of Legg Mason Value’s 1.7% gain that day. Even in Thursday’s horrific market with the Nasdaq Composite off 1.76% shortly after noon in the East, AMZN is holding onto a 0.75% gain.

And the e-tailer’s 118% gain this year has helped the fund offset drags from big losers such as Countrywide Financial (CFC), Sears Holdings (SHLD) and IAC/Interactive (IACI). But the fund’s year-to-date return of 4.19% still trails the S&P 500 by 3.91 percentage points by Morningstar’s calculation.

Amazon shares were up 18.35% in the last 5 days at $86.78.