Wall Street Experience, Main Street Values
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The CAMCO Investors Fund is offered only to United States residents, and information on this site is intended only for such persons. Nothing on this web site should be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell shares of the Fund in any jurisdiction where the offer or solicitation would be unlawful under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.
The CAMCO Investors Fund is self-distributed..
Investment Products are not FDIC Insured, Offer no Bank Guarantee and May Lose Value
Interview
Q&A with Rick Weitz, Lead Manager of The CAMCO Investors Fund
A. The only honest answer is that we don’t know. We do know that it is hard to see positives when most voices are so negative. It’s not always fun to be a contrarian, but that is what we are. In retrospect, we do believe that early March lows in the market will hold. In fact since the March lows stocks have made a recovery. We may have seen the beginning of the end of the panic.
Q. Last year was terrible for investors and we saw new market lows this March. Have we hit bottom yet?
Q. Should the average investor wait until the recession is clearly over to invest in stocks?
A. Historically, if the average investor waits until then, they are likely to miss much of the bull market gains. Given the huge sell-off in stocks over the past year, we believe that we could see a swift move to the upside in the near term, signaling the start of a new bull market. The recent gains in the Fund may indicate this.
Q. You mentioned a new bull market. Is that where you think we are?
A. Again, we will only know in hindsight; however, since 1929 we have experienced twelve bear markets (as measured by a drop of 20% or more in the S+P 500), working out to a bear market roughly every 6.7 years. What is clear from history is that every one of those previous major bear markets ushered in a major bull market.
Q. With the huge Federal Government spending and borrowing this year, are you concerned that our massive deficits will lead to inflation?
A. Yes, once the economy recovers and we see strong growth, the risk of inflation will be significant.
We have prepared for this by over-weighting the Fund in energy and materials, which historically tend to outperform other sectors during inflation.
Q. Why has there been such investor pessimism given that we go through recessions and bear markets on a somewhat regular basis?
A. This downturn was felt more acutely because of the double whammy of falling stock prices and falling home prices. To the average investor, his whole world was caving in. However, the prudent stock or real estate investor welcomes the opportunity to buy at lower prices. The familiar saying is, “buy low, sell high.” As Dennis Connor, the President of the Fund reminded me the past few months; “This is what low feels like!”
Q. How has the Fund performed during this difficult time?
A. Well, for 2008 we were down 35.89%, yet managed to outperform the S+P 500 by 1.1%. In 2009, through the end of May, we are up 4.6% year to date, ahead of the S+P 500 again, this time by 1.6%. In spite of this improving market for stocks, pessimism is still quite rampant. We see this as a positive sign that there are many investors still on the sidelines waiting to commit investment dollars to stocks.
Q. What advice do you have for someone now considering this Fund?
A. As always, we believe that it is possible to invest both ethically and profitably over the long term. We will continue to screen out companies principally involved in abortion, alcohol, gambling, pornography and tobacco while looking for the best undervalued companies at any given time. We believe that now is a great time to find such undervalued companies. We encourage investors with a long-term horizon to examine their exposure to stocks to insure they will participate in the next bull market.
