Large-Caps Offer Opportunities Via Misperceived Companies

March 19, 2012

Misperceived large-cap companies with high-quality, dividend-paying stocks, which historically have been able to increase those payouts to shareholders, offer growth opportunities for investors’ portfolios, says Harry D. Cohen, Chief Investment Officer, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at ClearBridge Advisors, LLC.

“We like our companies that have been misperceived for a long period of time when the excesses have been wrung out, where you have long bases, where any disappointed shareholders have been washed out of the stock, where downside is limited, and where things go right, the stocks could really do well,” he said.

Cohen favors MetLife, Inc. (MET), a company ClearBridge Advisors took a substantial position in when the stock suffered during the past few months after scrutiny by the Federal Reserve. He says he believes MET was misperceived by the market.

“And they got a secondary buying opportunity when the Federal Reserve said they could not buy in shares or raise their dividend because they still had a bank holding company, and they had to pass a stress test,” Cohen said. “And the stock got killed even though, in our view, they can easily pass those tests and they will, so the stock has been a recovering candidate since then.”