Index Partners’ stock soars on promise of its ETFs
Tom Lydon talked with Herb Lash at Reuters today regarding this development…..
NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) – A stock backed by famed Wall Street investor Michael Steinhardt has more than tripled since a group he leads took over the company less than a year ago, even though the firm has no earnings or proven track record.
Investors have bid up the share price of Index Development Partners Inc. since Steinhardt and a handful of Wall Street luminaries gained control in November.
Little is known about the firm’s plans, other than it wants to emulate The Vanguard Group and Barclays Global Investors by creating popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Steinhardt’s investment is his first since he stopped a golden run managing hedge funds in 1995.
Steinhardt’s name and those behind him, who include Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel, seem to have stirred investors’ imagination, along with their infatuation over ETFs.
"When you start seeing names like this and money like this coming to the table, there are surely some players that are going to give it the old college try," said Thomas Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments.
The cost efficiency and liquidity of ETFs have made them popular, said Lydon, who has about 60 percent of the assets he manages in ETFs. His interest in ETFs had made him aware of the firm, and to even think about buying its stock, he said.