Rick Williams

Jim Cramer's In-Depth Stock Picks and Comments, Aug.8

I side with Mr. Cramer on some of the “dot coms” and against Mr. Miller of Legg Mason.

Concerning Mr. Miller’s statements on his “Legg Mason Value Trust Portfolio”:

1. Where a “Value Trust” is concerned, capital preservation with dividends comes first, and then capital appreciation.
2. It seems that Mr. Miller’s team missed the market with several “dot coms” as well as other sectors and is now playing catch up - with other peoples money.
3. In total, Mr. Miller’s statement feels like a carefully crafted apology. No one gets it right all of the time, however clients pay Legg Mason to do better. If that means unloading dot dogs in favor of undervalued, dividend paying companies - then so be it.
4. I encourage fund managers to include independent assessments of “customer satisfaction” in their stock selection criteria and publish this data in a column along side each individual position they hold. Again, I point to: www.cfigroup.com/resou...

Rick Williams