Legg Mason's Value Trust fund, run by Bill Miller and which had until 2006 outperformed the S&P 500 index for 15 consecutive years, failed to beat benchmarks for the second year running in 2007 due to declines in financial and housing stocks.
The $17.3bn (â¬11.8bn) fund, which invests primarily in large-cap equities, limped home with a 6.6% loss for the calendar year. The S&P 500 index was up 5.49% over the same period. Financial and housing stocks, which have been hit by fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis, accounted for almost 17% of assets at the end of September, according to Bloomberg.
