Investors Can Still Play Volatile Stock Market: Managers
The Federal Reserve is ending quantitative easing. Greeks are rioting. Investors are “looking over their shoulders, wondering if 2008 is going to happen all over again,” Patrick Becker Jr. of Becker Capital Management told CNBC Thursday.
But that doesn’t mean investors can’t do well in this market, he believes.
“It comes back to a psychological issue,” he said. Last year, “June was a difficult market [but] July was off to the races. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Becker’s picks are Intel [INTC 22.53 
0.37 (+1.67%) 
] and Microsoft [MSFT 26.02 0.02 (+0.08%) ] . Why?
“Valuation is where it starts with both those names,” because they are large-cap shares trading in the bottom third of valuation and under 10 times earnings, Becker explained.
Playing Volatility:
The Greek riots are merely the most recent global events to shake up the market, added Donald Cleven, portfolio manager at Touchstone Mid Cap Value Fund, speaking in the same interview.
“I think the market appreciates the delicate nature of the recovery,” he said. “We’re so linked on a global basis that outside events have the potential to throw a wrench into the [U.S.] recovery. So it’s rational to pay attention to that.”
His fund is taking advantage of the volatility and trying “to find names where most of the downside risk is already discounted in the stock.”
He said Newell Rubbermaid [NWL 16.13 0.35 (+2.22%) ] is one such stock because it was punished a few weeks ago after lowering guidance, but “the bad news is discounted in the stock,” which can be bought for under 10 times earnings.
His other picks are Quest Diagnostics [DGX 59.85 0.75 (+1.27%) ] and Republic Services [RSG 31.11 0.26 (+0.84%) ] .
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