You cherrypicked the wrong time period. HSGFX since inception: 11.95% annualized S&P 500 same time period: 1.80% annualized While there's nothing to say that one time period is a better judge of a money manager's skills than another, it's worth pointing out that the fund's stated objective is to beat the S&P 500 over the entire business cycle, which so far it seems to be doing. Martin
Speaking of cherry picking... Any outperformance Hussman exhibited was early on when his fund had almost no money in it and he was writing calls during a bear market. Since the market bottom in October 2002, he has been getting his ass handed to him. Anyone who wants to hang in there with a manager who sucks wind for nearly 5 years is welcome to do so but I wouldn't. I looked into the Hussman funds for a client about 3 or 4 years ago. I like his strategy. Hussman's a smart guy. I really wanted to see his strategy work but the proof is in the chart. The guy has been getting his ass kicked by the plain vanilla S&P500 for several years.
CNBC lies all the time. Check out the chart of PALM around the middle of March. CNBC's midget reporter (can't remember his name) came on repeatedly throughout the day saying a takeover of PALM was "imminent" and a "deal could be announced as early as tonight". PALM was up over 10% on massive volume....and then Motorola warned after the bell causing both stocks to tumble lower!!!!! The next day, CNBC never mentioned a word about his bullshit story. They went about their business like his pump and dump never happened. Even worse, his "inside info" was from a "major PALM shareholder". No shit...a "major shareholder" who probably dumped his position onto the sheep who were unfortunate enough to believe the lies from CNBC.
Scene: Graduation Party Middle-Age Neighbor: I have one word for you son. Benjamin feigns and attentive look. Middle-Age Neighbor: Bloomberg Or another variation: Bloomberg is God. (Graffitti scrawled on a London wall.) I could go on, but you CNBC watchers get my drift, I assume. You're watching Little League TV. (And Fox will be worse. Much worse.)
It was nice of him to point out the truth. Its a rare thing to find anyone spouting any of that these days.
And any underperformance since was from writing calls during a bull market. Judge him by his stated investment objectives. By that metric he's doing fine. If you don't believe in his objectives, if you want to beat the S&P on a 3 to 5 year time horizon, don't invest in his fund. Not if you know how to read a chart. Your chart doesn't include distributions. On a total returns basis, HSGFX has been trailing the S&P 500 by about 2% annualized over 5 years - not the 11% annualized that your chart suggests. Martin
Came across this today that seemed to be particularly appropos to CNBC " there is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are." Any one know or can guess who wrote it (without googling it )?