The Wall Street Journal today reports that Bill Miller has “destroyed” his former reputation “as the era’s greatest mutual-fund manager.” Miller’s downfall is hardly surprising, given the severe bear market this year. Indeed, Miller (who runs Legg Mason Value Trust) has lots of company. Humbled active managers are everywhere these days.
Miller was long thought to belong to a different breed—a super investor, if you will. This, after all, was the man who beat the S&P 500 every calendar year from 1991 to 2005. As the Journal noted, that’s “a streak no other fund manager has come close to matching.”
But now the streak is over and Miller has rejoined the overcrowded ranks of mediocrity. Again citing the Journal story: Miller’s Value Trust has crumbled by 58% over the past year—20 percentage points deeper than the S&P 500’s loss.