Editor's note: This is Pro Strategy, a column on how to use the philosophies of the smartest minds on Wall Street to generate quality investment ideas.
Jeff Vinik is widely regarded as one of the best money managers of his generation, able to outperform in up and down markets. Which stock fits his investing paradigm today?
From 1992 to 1996, Vinik managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund, the world's largest mutual fund at the time with more than $50 billion under management. After beating the market over that time frame he started his hedge fund, Vinik Asset Management, and posted annual returns of 53 percent versus the S&P 500's 20.5 percent the next four years.
His last year may have been his most impressive performance — a 46 percent return in the declining market of 2000. Vinik and his staff made "around $800 million" from running the hedge fund, according to Money magazine. He then retired and returned the fund's outside capital.
CNBC Pro spoke with Vinik, researched previous media interviews and then evaluated a current stock's prospects using his framework with input from leading Wall Street analysts and experts.
"As most of us active in the markets have learned, investing is much more of an art than a science," Vinik told CNBC Pro on Thursday.
