Charles Minter of Comstock Capital Value Fund

Quick Take: The Comstock Capital Value/A (DRCVX) is not a typical mutual fund. Charles Minter, who manages the portfolio with Martin Weiner, has said that, in effect, it operates like a hedge fund.

The managers start by analyzing the economy, the stock market, interest rates, and other macroeconomic data to get an idea of what might happen over the long term. Then they adjust their portfolio based on short-term and cyclical conditions.

They can own any kind of domestic or foreign security they think will make money in a given economic and stock market environment. They can also use a variety of tactics to try to take advantage of bear markets for stocks. These include buying or selling stocks short, and owning put and call options.

Right now, Minter and Weiner have a gloomy outlook for the U.S. economy and domestic equities, so they’ve been favoring Treasuries and shorting stocks, a strategy that has paid off in recent years.

Comstock Capital Value returned 42.6% for the 12 months ended in March, and an average annualized 26% for the three years ended in March. By comparison, the average domestic equity fund fell 23.7% for the one-year period, and lost 31.1% over the three years.

Minter and Weiner also manage a similar fund, Comstock Strategy/A (CPFAX). Both funds are members of the Gabelli family of funds.

The Full Interview:

S&P: How do you run the fund?

MINTER: We start from the top-down, looking at economic forces, like inflation and deflation, and interest rates, and try to determine where to go.

S&P: You’ve described it as being very similar to a hedge fund.

MINTER: If we felt bullish, we’d be buying stocks, and if we’re bearish, we sell stocks short and buy puts. If we were bullish we’d also be buying calls, and doing everything to benefit from a huge bull market.

A lot of hedge funds buy stocks long and sell stocks short. What we do, typically, is to try to determine whether to be bullish or bearish.

S&P: Are there any limitations on what you can invest in?

MINTER: We can buy anything we deem appropriate. We can do virtually anything in the fund. We can buy or sell short foreign securities. We can buy Treasury bonds. We can short futures on Treasury bonds.

S&P: Do you own any stocks right now?

MINTER: We’re selling short quite a few common stocks. We’re short Disney (Walt) Co (DIS). We’re short a lot of technology stocks. We’re still short Cisco Systems (CSCO) — we shorted it around $86. We’re short Intl Bus. Machines (IBM), Intel Corp (INTC), KLA-Tencor Corp (KLAC), Linear Technology Corp (LLTC), and Broadcom Corp`A` (BRCM).

S&P: You think the bear market is far from over?

MINTER: We suspect that we will not start a new bull market until we get to stock valuation levels that established major market bottoms, like in 1932, and 1949, and 1974 and in 1982.

S&P: What kind of multiples would get you interested in stocks?

MINTER: At a minimum, we’re not going to get even neutral on the market until it reaches normal valuations of about 15 times earnings.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is trading at around 30 times earnings right now. For 80 years, it’s price-to-earnings multiple has typically ranged from approximately 10-20 times earnings. It’s 10 at the end of bear markets and 20 at the end of bull markets.

S&P: What kind of returns do you see stocks delivering over the next five to 10 years?