Fund Managers Give Thanks

Mutual fund managers are thankful too, you know.

Like most Americans, the folks who oversee the nation's mutual funds will join their families Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving. And like the rest of us, they will fill up on turkey and stuffing, and then waddle over to the television to fall asleep in front of the football game. (Or, like some of us, pretend to fall asleep to avoid cleaning off the table prior to dessert.)

There is, however, one thing that separates the average American from a mutual fund manager, and it's not that they are responsible for millions of dollars of retirement money and you can barely balance a checkbook. No, the chief difference is what they count among their blessings. Would anybody at your Thanksgiving gathering, for example, be thankful for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer?

We thought not. That's why TheStreet.com surveyed a number of fund managers to find out what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday.

Amen to That!

Fund managers who were long energy shares this year will be among the first to count their blessings at the Thanksgiving dinner table. And most are quick to admit that they wished they loaded up on second helpings back when oil was closer to $40 a barrel. Says George Schwartz, portfolio manager for the (AVEMX)Ave Maria Catholic Values fund, "I'm deeply thankful we had oil stocks this year. ... I just wish we had more."

Along those same power lines, Barry James of the (GLRBX)Golden Rainbow Fund says he is "grateful utility stocks were so unloved when we found them."

On the other hand, some managers welcome the recent pullback in energy prices, especially with winter on the way. John Augustine, chief investment strategist at Fifth Third Asset Management, says he is "thankful to see '$1's' on gasoline signs again in many parts of the country."