The Anti-Buffett: Hot Stocks, Quick Trades
This growth investor likes tech and market momentum
Chasing highfliers makes his investments all the more risky. They can swoon as quickly as they soared, so it's always smart to keep the exits in sight to prevent a catastrophic loss. "It isn't offense that's important," Fogle says. "It's how well you play defense." That lesson came home as a young man, when Fogle saw the quick demise of a longtime family business. His dad and granddad ran a shop making parts for oil drillers, but then the bottom fell out along with oil prices in the 1980s. Fogle earned an M.B.A. in finance at Texas Christian University, where he also taught a year. He still brings academic theory to his practical investing.
But don't try rapid trading at home. Vista has access to resources, including data and analysts, that are unavailable to retail investors, Fogle says. The fund also taps American Century's private trading networks to help keep trading costs down. Another risk to rapid trading is higher taxes, says Tom Roseen, an analyst at Lipper, adding that Vista appears to manage those as well. Fogle says selling losers quickly helps generate the losses to offset short-term gains.
Described by colleagues as well grounded and practical, Fogle says he can't think of any vices like Buffett's love for Cherry Coke—except maybe adopting kids. Fogle and his wife added four adoptees to their two oldest. "It's really addicting," he says. And there he starts to sound more like Buffett, talking about the importance of family and a sane life in the Midwest-American Century is based in Kansas City. "It's away from the noise and the distractions," Fogle says. That also helps maintain investment focus, he says, and discipline.
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