SF T1ps Smaller Companies Growth Fu5 Jul 2009 22:04
Telecom Plus
Why are most fund managers total idiots? Read on. We have had long discussions with Charles Wigoder of Telecom Plus about why his shares appeared marooned at 270-280p. The stock is in the FTSE 250 so the big question is why are fund managers not buying? From a variety of sources we are offered two main explanations.
The first is that because Telecom Plus is part utility, part distributor, part retailer fund managers find it hard to value as it is not in any one sector and so hard to compare with similar companies. Hell's teeth. Now you know why fund managers gorged on telecoms stocks on PEs of 75 in the dotcom boom - because a PE of 75 was "cheap" compared to the rest of the sector. Such analysis is rather like saying that RSS and Tom Winnifrith (combined weight in excess of 30 stone) are champion athletes within the t1ps.com stable merely because Evil Knievil tips the scales at 24 stone on his own. Anyone who backs any of those three heavyweights to finish a 100 metre race let alone to win it is certifiable yet that is what professional fund managers do with your money and that is why they will not buy Telecom Plus because they are to dim to look at it in absolute terms.
The second reason is that because no funds are buying the stock it may be ejected from the FTSE 250 Index which - it is argued - will cause fund managers to sell.. So some people have shorted it ahead of ejection so making this a self fulfilling prophecy. But since no FMs hav