Press Releases

2 Jan 2009

Moline Financial Newsletter Publisher Hits Pay Dirt While Others Pan Fool’s Gold

Eric Dany Consistently Finds the Market's ‘Nuggets’

When the talk around the typical office water cooler turns to the stock market and investing, most faces grow long. For them, investing during the last several years has not been fun. 

So, why is Eric W. Dany of Moline, Ill., smiling confidently? And why has he been smiling so long?

It’s no surprise to his friends and the subscribers of his newsletters.  The Stock Prospector and Mutual Fund Prospector have turned in solid returns over the last ten years, putting Dany among a handful of other publishers whose newsletters can point with pride to their picks. And, Dany has another reason to smile: the newsletter owner and publisher said his personal investing follows his own strategy.

"The Stock Prospector and Mutual Fund Prospector both had good years. Since inception both the Stock Prospector and Mutual Fund Prospector have racked up solid gains for our subscribers.

My annual Winning Stocks special report picks have trounced the market since 2004. In 2007 our Winning Stock picks knocked the ball right out of the park with a stunning 51.8% average return. That's a huge win when you consider the Dow was up only 6.4%.

Last year (2008) was a difficult year and our Winning Stocks were down, but not as much as the market. They declined 27.2%, versus 37.0% for the market. "Many investors would be pleased losing less than the market," Dany said.

Dany says his secret to success is finding under-valued stocks and then holding them for substantial gains. He adds that "Most investors don't have enough patience."  

 “My mutual fund model-portfolio, since inception in 1999, has returned 48.8%, beating the market in seven out of the last ten calendar years. For the same time, the market return was a LOSS  of 6.6%, yes…that is +48.8% versus -6.6%. Even better was the ten  year return of the aggressive portfolio...it has gained +100.2% since inception.”

To what does he attribute his success while others were stumbling? Dany credits his strategy that selects better performing equity styles along with index funds. The strategy does not involve dart-throwing.

“My mutual fund investment strategy combines a market index fund and equity style timing of actively managed funds,” he said.  “The index fund provides stability during uncertain times and equity style timing selects funds in the better performing style trends in the market, giving the portfolio the opportunity to outperform the market.

“The experts say equity style timing won’t work, however I think the market has given my strategy a very challenging test during the last ten tumultuous years and the results have been positive. However, I realize ten years is a short time to measure investment performance so my work remains a work in progress.” 

This year we're adding a more conservative portfolio to the mutual fund letter, an actively managed balanced portfolio. The balanced portfolio features 60% equities and 40% bonds. The portfolio will enable investors to lower their overall risk.

Dany suggests the actively managed balanced portfolio may ultimately outperform the market over the long-term, but it will take a couple of full-market cycles to establish actual results.

Overall the response to his strategy is very favorable. One investor/subscriber, William P. of Pittsburgh, Pa., wrote this to Dany: “You helped me when the market was going up and saved me when the market went down. Another 20% staying in growth would have been a $150,000 loss.”

News Highlights

Prospector Readers Prosper!

• The Stock Prospector Winning Stocks for 2007 recommendations trounced the market with an average return of 51.8%, outperforming the market's 5.5% return.
   

• Since 2004 the Stock Prospector Winning Stocks  recommendations have outperformed the market.
   

• The Mutual Fund Prospector newsletter trounced the market averages over the last ten years. Tough times for most investors.
  

• The Model Portfolio's ten year return was 48.8% versus the market's 6.6% LOSS.
  

• The aggressive portfolio which is simply the actively managed funds in the model portfolio returned 100.2% vs --6.6% for the market.
  

• The Hulbert Digest tracks the Prospector Newsletters

Why is this important?

• Index funds are mutual funds that hold the stocks in the same proportions as the index they are designed to track.

There are many benefits to index funds, they outperform 80% of mutual funds over the long term, they typically have low managerial fees and they are tax efficient.

Equity style timing is an investment strategy that invests in various market styles, switching between equity styles as market conditions change.

• Eric Dany says "I have not been able to find many references in financial literature about equity style timing." Information from Duen-Li Kao and Robert Shumaker’s study, "Equity Style Timing" appeared the Jan/Feb 1999 issue of the Financial Analysts Journal.

For more information see the article:
Academic Alley – Equity Style Timing   
Mutual Fund Prospector August 1999  (PDF File)

• Actual Model Portfolio Returns

  Year	MFP	Market
  1999-2008	48.8%	-6.6%
  Annualized	4.7%	--0.7%
  2008	-43.9%	37.0%
  2007	13.4%	5.5%
  2006	14.6%	15.5%
  2005	13.3%	6.0%
  2004	10.7%	12.5%
  2003	39.6%	31.4%
  2002	-19.8%	-21.0%
  2001	1.1%	-11.3%
  2000	-5.1%	-10.6%
  1999	52.1%	23.8%

Special Report Available

• Special Report on Mutual Fund Prospector's Investment Strategy - 8 pages

Detailed explanation of investment strategy includes Peter Lynch and Academic Alley - Equity Style Timing articles  (PDF File) 

View Special Report  


Bio of Eric W. Dany

• Eric Dany is 61 years old and has been investing for over 30 years. He has a BSME from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1969) and MBA from the University of Florida (1979).
  

• What are index funds?
  

• What are equity styles?
  

• What is equity style timing?
  

• How do you track equity styles?
  

• How do you select the portfolio’s actively managed funds?
  

• How do you forecast the market’s direction?

Related Experts and Sources

Hulbert Financial Digest, Mark Hulbert, Editor
5051-B Backlick Rd
Annandale, VA 22003

866-428-6568
Hfd@hulbertdigest.com
www.hulbertdigest.com

John C. Bogle, Senior Chairman Vanguard Group
Vanguard Group
PO Box 1110
Valley Forge, PA 19482-1110

800-871-3879

Author of
Bogle on Mutual Funds
Common Sense on Mutual Funds

Burton G. Malkiel, Professor of Economics
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544

609-258-3000

Author of
A Random Walk Down Wall Street

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Contact: Eric Dany
Tel: 866-541-5299
Moline, IL  CST

Website: www.prospectornewsletters.com