The Jeffrey Gundlach Story

“Look, I have a gift, or some would say a curse, of being able to have stunning insight into the reality of markets and the economy…Maybe it’s the fact that I’m obsessively regimented in my analysis, borderline autistic. But whether it’s bond selection or asset allocation, we can do it better than just about anybody around.”
– Jeffrey Gundlach

Yes, he’s a freak, but he’s one of those lovable freaks – the kind that we fall in love with because of a savant-like expertise and a complete disregard for social mores.  In case you’re late to the story, Jeffrey Gundlach is the genius bond manager giving Bill Gross a run for his money in the Bond King department. 

Barron’s ran an awesome cover story on Gundlach and his firm that everyone will be talking about this week…

Gundlach’s legendary success has continued at DoubleLine, which he founded shortly after leaving TCW. His DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund (DBLTX), with $4.5 billion of assets as of Jan. 31, outperformed every one of the 91 bond funds in the Morningstar intermediate-bond-fund universe in 2010, despite launching only in April. It notched a total return of 16.6%, compared with returns of 8.36% for the giant Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTAX), run by the redoubtable Bill Gross, and 10.74% for TCW Total Return Bond, now managed by Metropolitan West, an able fixed-income shop acquired by TCW to replace Gundlach and his team.

There a backstory that some will find even more interesting than the performance figures…it involves marijuana, pornography, broken government bond deals and wrongful termination.  I highly recommend getting over to the story asap.

Source:

The King of Bonds (Barron’s)