Investing guru, Bill Miller continues to be optimistic about the future

"As he noted in his latest letter to shareholders, Value Trust's last two-year slump directly preceded the beginning of his 15-year winning streak. He sees similar opportunities now after the market's recent stumbles." -Stock Article Link

If you like to buy mutual funds, Legg Mason Value Trust (LMVRX) is close to it's 52 week low. and not surprisingly when you look at his portfolio.

TOP 10 HOLDINGS ( 47.05% OF TOTAL ASSETS)

Company	Symbol	% Assets	YTD Return %
AMAZON.COM INC	AMZN	6.91	-30.41
AES CORPORATION	AES	6.20	-15.94
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP	UNH	5.93	-20.14
AETNA INC. NEW	AET	5.20	-14.08
JP MORGAN CHASE CO	JPM	4.73	-6.03
QWEST COMM INTL INC	Q	4.10	-21.89
SPRINT NXTEL CP	S	3.91	-45.85
EBAY INC	EBAY	3.46	-20.58
YAHOO INC	YHOO	3.43	19.43
GOOGLE	GOOG	3.18	-31.87

Investing Guru Bill Miller thinks Countrywide(CFC) is worth $40.

"The recent precipitous decline in financial stocks, especially those related to housing, which sent Countrywide Financial (CFC) to $12 last week, and led to 20 to 30% drops in financial guarantors in a day or so—after they had already dropped between 25 and 50% this year—is a case in point.

After falling 20% in a only a few days on no news, and this after being down 50% for the year, CFC rallied over 30% in one day once they reported their results and indicated they would be profitable for the 4th quarter and expect to earn a reasonable return on equity of 10-15% for all of 2008. The price action on both sides was driven by emotion – first fear, then relief – and was hardly the result of a careful analysis of Countrywide’s long term business value. That, by the way, we think is in the $40’s compared to its current price of about $14-15."

-Legg Mason PDF Commentary Link

Bill Miller smiling with the rise of Amazon

Lots of people ridiculed Bill Miller, fund manager of the Legg Mason Value Prim (LMVTX), for owning Amazon (AMZN). But now year to date, the stock is up a whopping 78% ! Some of his other current holdings include Google (GOOG), United Health (UNH), Sears Holdings (SHLD) and also QWest (Q) which reported good numbers today.

Miller has been the only mutual fund manager who has beaten the S&P 500 for the last 14 straight years (although that streak just ended in 2006). Over the last ten years, he has achieved an average annual total return of 16.8%.

Reading Portfolio Manager letters that mirror Warren Buffett

"we looked for managers who proclaim a style similar to Morningstar's: looking for stocks that trade below their estimated intrinsic values and providing investors with a margin of safety. While we are not endorsing these mutual funds, these managers follow the examples set by Ben Graham and Warren Buffett. Click on the fund's name to read the individual letters."
-Stock Article Link

I like Bill Miller's commentary...."It is trying to invest long-term in a short-term world, and being contrarian when conformity is more comfortable, and being willing to court controversy and bewrong, that has helped us outperform. “Don’t you read the papers?” one
exasperated client asked us after we bought a stock that was embroiled in scandal.

As I also like to remind our analysts, if it’s in the papers, it’s in the price. The
market does reflect the available information, as the professors tell us. But just as
the funhouse mirrors don’t always accurately reflect your weight, the markets
don’t always accurately reflect that information. Usually they are too pessimistic
when it is bad, and too optimistic when it is good....

Sometimes growth funds beat value funds and the market, as from 1995 through 1999, and sometimes value funds beat growth funds, as from 2000 through 2006. Sometimes growth is cheap, as it was in 1995, and is today in my opinion, and sometimes so-called value is cheap, as it was in 1999. The question is not growth or value, but where is the best value?"

Bill Miller - the only portfolio manager to beat S&P 500, 14 yrs straight.

Bill Miller is the portfolio manager of Legg Mason Value Trust (LMVTX). Miller has been the only mutual fund manager who has beaten the S&P 500 for the last 14 straight years (although that streak just ended in 2006). Over the last ten years, he has achieved an average annual total return of 16.8%.

"It's hard to find a better environment for equities than we have right now. I'll be surprised if the market's not up in the double-digits this year.....he finds homebuilders irresistible at these prices. Many are trading at or below book value......his largest industry holding is in steel, which he calls a long-term structural story.......Another one of Miller's large contrarian wagers is the unloved Eastman Kodak." - Article Link

Bill is a buy-and-hold investor. He follows a value discipline of investing by purchasing primarily large-capitalization stocks at large discounts to his assessment of their intrinsic value. He has also taken big shots on more momentum type investments in companies such as Google, so long as he believes there is fundamental value there.

Portfolio from Stockpickr

Holdings from Yahoo

What Bill Miller Is Buying And Selling