Give Me Liberty!!!!

Give Me Liberty!!!!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Rich Pzena Thinks You're a Fucking Idiot


Rich Pzena is one of those value guys, the type that's okay with being long and wrong today and tomorrow and for the rest of the year because it's all about the long-term.

4/23/08 in Forbes: "They are the only stabilizing force. Their competition has dried up, so the prices they charge have dramatically increased. This is as good as it gets for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

And back in November of 2007 at the Value Investing Congress, Pzena said that FRE is the cheapest stock he's ever seen.

There's also this Barron's interview from January 4, where he said "There is some short-term downside risk. Looking out three years-plus, you have a really spectacular risk/reward trade. The odds that Citigroup sells for less than 30 in three years are very low, and the odds of it selling for substantially above that are very high."

Rich was also a sucker for Alcatel-Lucent, whose former CEO Patricia "Helmet Head" Russo screwed over about a trillion investors and retirees with her bullshit plan - "In the end the price war will abate and Alcatel-Lucent will be successful in reducing costs as per the merger plan. There is a lot of earnings power here -- between $1.25 and $1.50 a share of earnings on a stock that is now $7 a share. It is pretty outstanding, given the quality of the franchise. In '08 we'll see improvement. We won't hit $1.25 to $1.50 of earnings power next year, but we'll be moving in the right direction. When it happens, the stock won't stay at $7."

This guy ran research at Sanford C. Bernstein (fucking place probably didn't even look at my resume) and he couldn't figure out that a business with three potential customers and shitloads of competition isn't all that practical.

So why does Rich Pzena think you're a fucking idiot? Because his company launched what he calles the friggin Pzena Financial Opportunities Service.

Now I've told some pretty bad lies in my lifetime. I've even told some this week. To my Mom.

But this guy takes the cake with this line of bullshit:

"Developed in response to client interest in a concentrated portfolio that would capitalize on the extraordinary valuations currently available in the financial sector, the Financial Opportunities Service comprises approximately 8-20 global financial stocks, reflecting the full research and analysis resources of the firm."

So are really supposed to believe that after being dead fucking wrong on financials, Pzena's clients want to give him MORE money to invest in what probably amounts to the XLF. If you believe Pzena on this, you are a fucking idiot.

No comments: