u0422811

In the spirit of gravitating towards hate as a potentially buying ground I keep find myself thinking is there a good way to play commodities. Clearly the most optimal would be a thorough investigation of bottoms-up work on specific companies, but if I wanted to make a broader bet via an ETF or say a mutual fund are there any good options? Most ETFs are structurally flawed due to roll-yield with contango and I am not aware of any mutual funds that have anywhere close to a passable record. I would love to be able to find a good value oriented mutual fund manager with a nice long-term track record who focuses on commodities but I am not sure that exists. Any thoughts from those who are wiser than I am? Thanks.

Thanks to all those who have responded. This is inline with the consensus I have received from other folks in the industry and makes my overall decision on which offer to accept that much easier. Thanks again!

Here is a question for the overall community. Recognizing that b-school is no automatic ticket into the investment management world and that I will still have to hustle, network, and above all perform when it matters. I was wondering what the community thought of HBS vs. Columbia's Value Investing Program. HBS has the better general brand and a stronger network. But Columbia's Value Investing Program has a tremendous brand in the investment management world (although its not guaranteed that you can get into the program even after being admitted into Columbia Business School). I already have a buyside background (albeit more on the private / vc side of the market), and post graduation I want to work in investment management focusing on publicly traded securities. Ideally I would like to work for a hedge fund or mutual fund after graduation. I would appreciate any thoughts / color. Thanks.

There is so much pessimism in the sector I can't help but wonder if now is a decent time to take a plunge. Let's take ESI for example: Trades at $17.49 they have around $1.50 in net cash. They are going to earn around $8/share this year. Next year consensus estimates are for $4.75/share. So lets say they increase cash to $2/share and really miss on 2013 and get $3.50/share. $17.49 - $2 = $15.49/$3.50 = P/E of 4.4x. Assuming a normalized EPS of around maybe $3 given the new pricing environment and a low P/E of say 8x (way below historical average) plus the cash gets to $26 or approx 50% up from today's price. I can't think of a sector that is so hated - I keep scratching my head on when the right time to buy is.

He could swing back down given the concentration in AIG. That being said as an investor with him since 2002 I am really hoping he turns out to be right on this. I also hope he gets back to his fundamentals ever since the whole separation thing.

Where did she get $6k in savings already? It seems with her wheeling and dealing she would be pretty capital light. I also would be interested to hear what the property value and taxes are and how much she spend on renovations. I would imagine this deal will take a few years to pay off. That being said it does show gumption!

He posts them on the site because his fund has a publicly listed European vehicle. So he has to by law. That is also why he discloses monthly exposures etc. There are a couple other funds that have raised permanent capital in this way. T Boone Pickens, etc. I even think John Pauslon was looking into this but probably didnt do it given last year's poor performance.