"Concentrated positions" refers to when someone holds a large amount or a significant portion of a particular investment or asset. It means their investment is heavily focused on a specific company, sector, or asset, rather than being diversified or spread out across various investments.
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In periods of low prices you will tend to hold
more concentrated positions and in periods of high prices, like today, you will tend to hold many very small positions.
The bank had historically been known for its aggressive and risky investment strategies, but it was finally done in by its
heavily concentrated position in bad mortgages.
I don't know about Combs, but Hempton is wrong on Weschler I think, who is known for owning
very concentrated positions in very few stocks and holding them for years (he compounded money at around 25 % annually for 12 years in his fund before closing it to go work for Buffett, and the majority of his returns came from just a few positions that he held the entire life of the fund).
There are some firms that try and cheat by utilizing leverage or
concentrating their positions so it helps to take a look at the underlying holdings within each fund and comparing them to the offering memorandum or prospectus before investing.
Druckenmiller also highlighted fellow hedge fund billionaire George Soros as his second mentor, noting that Soros taught him the importance of making just a few big bets (that is, holding
concentrated positions instead of being diversified).
Of course, such returns can come only from capital gains on shrewdly picked stocks, and
probably concentrated positions in relatively risky smaller stocks.
The
most concentrated positions — the local holdings in the highest quintile — beat the market by 6.6 % per year after adjusting for risk.
The Small Dogs of the Dow requires that investors
further concentrate their positions by investing in only 5 of the highest - yielding Dow components with the lowest stock price.
And when a business with really good prospects came along every few years hold buy and hold them for years in
higher concentrated positions due to their better long term prospects they had than just merely average businesses as they kept growing and growing.
For example, funds must avoid
certain concentrated positions (e.g. not holding more than 5 % of a company's securities) that would jeopardize their legal standing as diversified management companies and their corporate tax exemptions at the fund management company level.
There are some firms that try and cheat by utilizing leverage or
concentrating their positions so it helps to take a look at the underlying holdings within each fund and comparing them to the offering memorandum or prospectus before investing.
David Nierenberg of D3 Funds: Nierenberg's firm
takes concentrated positions in microcap growth companies seeking to constructively work with management.
As we discussed in the personal financial column last Friday, investing one's life savings in
a concentrated position is the perfect recipe for disaster.
The manager of a volatile fund should also avoid taking
concentrated positions, because when he is doing well, his own buying may drive the stocks he owns up, only to see them fall harder when he is forced to liquidate positions when the market is doing poorly, and shareholders are leaving.
My view is that investors, when they start out, should practice wide diversification and move towards
concentrated positions only after about a decade of experience and as they move towards concentrated positions, their propensity to take business risk and management risk will go down but their ability to acquire deep knowledge about a handful of businesses with value creating potential will go up.
As Legg Mason Value Trust grew larger
it concentrated its positions.
Available portfolios can use leverage, short securities or have
concentrated positions.
Available portfolios are likely to use leverage, short securities, have
concentrated positions and may experience significant losses at various times.
Available portfolios are likely to use leverage, short securities or have
concentrated positions.
Equal weighting solves the problem of
concentrated positions, but it creates other problems, including higher portfolio turnover and increased costs.
If that is your goal,
concentrated positions in companies like Berkshire and IBM might make sense.
By diversifying, you can reduce risk for up to 70 % of the total risk received by a non-diversified portfolio or pure /
concentrated position.
Berkowitz is famous for taking big,
concentrated positions, and he isn't always right, but his big positions are the reason for his dramatic outperformance.
But crashes are usually consistent with the use of leverage or
concentrated positions.
Sell
your concentrated position, either a large portion annually, or a couple of thousand dollars monthly,» she said.