Forester Looks for Downside Protection

Top value investor Tom Forester, who was the lone equity fund manager to post positive returns in 2008, is worried about the U.S. and global economies and is thus keying on high-quality stocks that can weather tough times.

“The U.S. is running out of room to run deficits or print money,” Forester said at the Morningstar Investment Conference, according to MarketWatch. “We’re using up most of our bullets and we don’t know how it will play out, so that means you have to go towards high-quality names to have some potential for upside if things work, and to protect the downside if things get worse.”

Forester, who says he’s also concerned about how countries that hold a lot of Greek debt will fare, says he’s keying on “high-dividend payers with a good balance sheet and a stable top line”, like AT&T and Pfizer. He’s also holding a decent amount of cash — about 20% of his Forester Value fund and 45% of his international-focused Discover fund are in cash, MarketWatch reports.