Berkowitz: For Banks, Focus on Today's Data -- Not Unfounded Future Fears

Bruce Berkowitz, who in 2010 was named one of Morningstar’s Fund Managers of the Decade but has been hit hard in the past year, says he continues to be high on unloved financial stocks that have been dragging his portfolio down. Berkowitz tells WealthTrack’s Consuelo Mack that all of the negativity about financials has driven many of their stock prices down to incredibly attractive levels. “The negatives are all uncertainty about the future. And what I try and do is focus on the facts of today,” he says. “So, when you look at the income statements, they’re making huge cash flows, a lot of it being paid for the foolishness of 2007 and 2008, which eventually will burn off and those huge cash flows will show. If you look at the balance sheets of the company, they have — banks, for example, they have the strongest balance sheets that they’ve had probably in a history of their histories. If you look at reserving, it’s stronger than at any time. If you look at the trends, the trends are turning favorable. If you understand the nature of loans and the average life of five to seven years, and your troubles in 2007, 2008, you’ve already had a good– you’ve had a three, four year look at how the loans progressed. You know how they’re going to turn out.”