Press Releases

2 Jan 2012

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

It hasn't been a "lost decade" for Prospector Newsletter Subscribers!

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, Il., 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 eleven 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 decent performance in what turned out to be another tough market.

Since inception both the Stock Prospector and Mutual Fund Prospector have racked up solid gains for our subscribers.

Dany backs up his statement with facts. For example, his Stock Prospector's annual Winning Stocks picks have trounced the market since 2004--gaining an average of 17.2% versus 6.0% for the market.

In 2011 his Winning Stock picks beat the market, but not by as much as other years. Still, a win is a win, especially in today's roller coaster market.

           Dany said, "My 2011 Winning Stock Picks were up an average of 2.6%, while the S&P 500 Index was off 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.4% and the small cap Russell 2000 declined 6.3%. Only the Dow Industrials was up more, gaining 5.3%."

           "Last year (2011) started out just fine and our picks moved up much more than the market market trading as high as an average 38.0% gain. But then in August the European credit crisis kniocked the market down and we ended up 2% to 8% ahead of the broad market averages."

"I'll take credit for another win in 2011, but I have much higher expectations for our 2012 Winning Stock Picks."

 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 112.6%, beating the market in eight out of the last thirteen calendar years. Over the same time period, the market gained 42.2%. Yes…that is +112.6% versus +42.2%. Even better is the thirteen year return of the aggressive portfolio...it has gained +182.1% 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 a core holding of  index funds. The strategy does not involve dart-throwing.

“My mutual fund investment strategy combines core index funds and equity style timing of actively managed funds,” he said.  “The index funds provide 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 thirteen tumultuous years and the results have been very positive.

Because of the rough and tumble markets we have added two more conservative portfolios to the mutual fund letter--actively managed balanced portfolios. The balanced portfolios 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 (style) would have been a $150,000 loss.”

News Highlights

Prospector Readers Prosper!

• The Stock Prospector Winning Stocks for 2011 recommendations beat the market with an average return of 2.6%, outperforming the losses of most market averages.
   

• Since 2004 the Stock Prospector Winning Stocks  recommendations have outperformed the market by an average of 11.1% returning 17.2% versus a market average of 6.0%.
   

• The Mutual Fund Prospector newsletter trounced the market averages over the last thirteen years.
  
  Tough times for most investors--As some have called it--"A Lost decade!" -- Perhaps that's appropriate for some investors, but not for Prospector Newsletter Subscribers.

• The Model Portfolio's thirteen year return was 112.6% versus 42.2% for the market.

• The Aggressive Portfolio which is simply the actively managed funds in the Model Portfolio returned 182.1% vs 42.2% 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, or asset classes, 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.
  
  A recent book, The Ivy Portfolio, describes an investment strategy that is similar to the Prospector's equity style timing, but it uses exchange traded funds, not actively managed mutual funds and it does not benefit from using core index funds.

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
  1999-2011	112.6%	42.2%
  Annualized	6.0%	2.7%
  2011 2010	-7.6% 16.0%	1.0% 17.2%
  2009 2008	33.3% -43.9%	28.7% -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 has been investing for over 45 years. He has a BSME from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1969) and MBA from the University of Florida (1979).

• Eric began publishing his newsletters in 1999. Since then he has successfully guided investors by applying an easy to use and understand disciplined, quantitative investment process.

• He has been featured in articles appearing in:

  •  CBS MarketWatch

  • Bottom Line Personal

  • The Kansas City Star

  • The Houston Business Journal

  • Stephen Lord's "Wall Street Column" - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

  • The Sun News - Myrtle Beach - Stock Tips from Financial Newsletters

• Eric has also been a featured guest on the drive-time talk radio show "Market Warp" with Moe Ansari.

• Leslie Masonson's book, All About Market Timing features information about Eric's letter.   

• Eric has appeared as a guest speaker at AAII Chapter meetings and would be pleased to speak at similar events.

• 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,
Retired CEO of Vanguard Group
Bogel Financial Markets Research Center, c/o The Vanguard Group
PO Box 2600
Valley Forge, PA 19482-2600

800-871-3879

Author of
Bogle on Mutual Funds
Common Sense on Mutual Funds
and other works

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