Miller shot to fame by beating the S&P 500 for 15 straight years and saw his Legg Mason Value Trust grew beyond $20 billion in assets at its peak before his record streak snapped ahead of the financial crisis. He was the subject of a 2002 book titled “The Man Who Beats the S&P” and of a 2006 Fortune story headlined “The Greatest Money Manager of Our Time.”
“Today, you couldn’t find anyone to put on the cover of a magazine,” said Lawrence Glazer, managing partner at Mayflower Advisors in Boston. “The stock funds have no heroes.”
Miller, 65, saw investors flee after losses of 55 percent in 2008. The fund, now named ClearBridge Value Trust and overseen by a new team, has shrunk to $2.7 billion.
Miller, who stepped away from Value Trust in 2012 but still runs the $2.3 billion Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, has struggled to win back investors despite a performance rebound at the smaller fund. Opportunity Trust has beaten 85 percent of its competition in the past five years, yet its assets are down 70 percent from their peak.
‘Bond Guys’
The changing fortunes of Miller’s former fund are mirrored across the industry. Since the market bottomed in 2009, investors have pulled $231 billion from funds run by stock pickers, according to data compiled by Morningstar. Bond funds, including ETFs, have hauled in more than $1.2 trillion.
Bond managers Gundlach and Gross are regulars in print and on television, opining on a range of economic and market topics. Billionaire activists Icahn and Ackman have held a high-octane debate in the financial media over the past two years on the merits of nutrition products seller Herbalife Ltd.
“The bond guys tend to talk about macro issues, which are of interest to a broader audience,” said Gundlach, the co- founder of DoubleLine Capital. “How many times can you hear a stock manager say he likes Apple?”
While deserting active stock funds, investors have added more than $1.1 trillion since the market bottom to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that track equity indexes.
‘Hard to Find’