Guru of the Year (Cont'd)

Guru of the Year: The Runners-Up

The readers chose Don Hays, of Hays Advisory Group in Nashville, Tenn., as GOTY, but he's going to have to settle for the "People's Guru" award.

Hays deserves high praise for recommending investors take a generally defensive posture in 2000 and his persistent warnings until late December that the "bottom" had not yet been felt. Hays' long-term growth accounts gained 17.6% last year and his more defensive accounts were up nearly 23% (both net of fees).

GuruVision has consistently found Hays' work thought-provoking, particularly his comparison of the Nasdaq with Japan's post-bubble Nikkei (an analogy the strategist maintains is working). ...