Portfolio Managers Say It's Time To Buy Stocks
By: With the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting another record, investors are asking: buy or sell? Robert Zagunis, co-portfolio manager at Jensen Investment Management, and Jeff Mortimer, CIO of equities for Charles Schwab Investment Management and portfolio manager for Schwab Core Equity Funds, gave "Closing Bell" viewers their answer: buy.
Zagunis told CNBC's Dylan Ratigan that his firm is "company-specific" -- and even in weaker sectors, investors can find "some real stars." He said 3M, General Electric (parent of CNBC) and Microsoft are "just getting started" on a profitable road. He praised GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who "repositioned the company for accelerated growth." Zagunis also slammed one analyst's GE breakup suggestion as "unfortunate."
Mortimer, who also serves as CIO of equities for Charles Schwab Investment Management and lead portfolio manager of Laudus International MarketMasters Fund, said investors should not put much emphasis on the Dow's record this week: "It's just a 13 with three zeroes after it," he said.
Mortimer advised stock buyers to diversify, and said that "on a P/E level," the stock market "might be more reasonably valued now than at the start of this bull market." He predicted that a continuing stream of good earnings will lead the market even higher.
