Guru Outlook: Paolo Pellegrini

GURU OUTLOOK: PAOLO PELLEGRINI

Courtesy of The Pragmatic Capitalist 

This week’s Guru Outlook brings you Paolo Pellegrini.  Although he is not the most well known of investment gurus Pellegrini has built quite a name for himself in recent years.  Before founding his own hedge fund PSQR (a play on PP Squared) Pellegrini was John Paulson’s right hand man at Paulson and Co (see Paulson’s guru outlook here & most recent strategy comments here).  Of course, Paulson and Co. made waves during the sub-prime crisis when they made billions shorting the market during the crisis.  Pellegrini was instrumental in devising the strategy.  Like Paulson, however, Pellegrini wasn’t a one trick, short the market, pony.  In 2009 he crushed the market with a 61.6% return in his fund after he made big bets on a rising oil market and a tanking treasury market.

So where does Pellegrini see the market going now?  In a recent letter to shareholders he said:

“the structural problems that precipitated the Great Recession around the globe remain unresolved”

He says we are essentially papering over the problems with more debt.  We are simply adding more debt to a debt-laden world while China adds more exports to a saturated market.  He says the problems in Europe are a harbinger of these continuing issues.   Thus far the massive stimulus has been successful in jumpstarting the global economy, but is nothing more than a temporary respite from the longer-term structural problems that remain.

Pellegrini’s favorite trades in 2010 are the following four:

• Short US fixed income
• Short US equities
• Short US dollar
• Long commodities

The short trade on fixed income is a reflection of the likelihood for higher yields as investors grow increasingly fearful of the U.S. as a steward of its debt.  Pellegrini believes demand for treasuries will decrease in the coming years.

In terms of equities Pellegrini says valuations are becoming stretched as organic growth fails to match expectations. He also believes higher taxes could ultimately be a net negative for equities.

Pellegrini is short the dollar based on the expectation of more stimulus.  He predicts that policymakers will come back to the taxpayer asking for another handout as they explain their first stimulus plan was not a failure, but simply too small.  He says the dollar will “plunge” if this occurs.

The one sector of the market Pellegrini likes is commodities.  He says they remain attractive long-term as China exports inflation and demand for hard assets remains high.

One of Pellegrini’s primary concerns is the stimulus based growth occurring…

Read the original story at Phil’s Stock World