Chris Versace

Chris Versace, the "Thematic Investor," is the director of research at Think 20/20, an independent equity research and corporate access firm located in the Washington, D.C. area. Before Think 20/20, Mr. Versace was the portfolio manager of Agile Capital Management (ACM), a thematically driven alternative investment fund. The groundwork for ACM was laid during Mr. Versace’s tenure as senior vice president of equity research at Friedman Billings Ramsey, where he produced award-winning, differentiated research coverage using an ecosystem perspective of the mobile phone industry and enabling component technologies across various material technologies, including RF semiconductors (RFID, GPS), LEDs and display technologies. During his tenure at FBR, Mr. Versace received honorable mentions in Institutional Investor annual research analyst rankings, was a five-star analyst by Zacks Investment Services and a four-star analyst ranked by Star Mine. Mr. Versace was also an analyst at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette, as well as Salomon Brothers. Mr. Versace is currently a weekly contributor to The Washington Times. He has been quoted extensively in the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, The Street.com, USA Today and other publications. He has participated in numerous industry panels, including the Northern Virginia Tech Council, We Media and others, and has appeared on Fox Business, CNBC, CNBC Europe, CNNfn and "America's Morning News." Mr. Versace earned bachelor's degrees in economics and mathematics at Fairfield University before earnings an master of business administration degree in Finance at Fordham University.

Articles by Chris Versace

VERSACE: Recovery may be W-shaped

The last few days have been interesting to watch in the stock market. On the one hand, several companies are issuing positive commentaries about their outlooks, but at the same time some fresh economic data have dashed hopes of any pronounced pickup in the recovery. As suspected, it appears we are in for a slow rebound in the near term, but concerns remain about another leg down that would make this a W-shaped recovery.

October 23, 2009

VERSACE: Interpreting mixed economic data

On Wednesday I had the privilege of walking the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as the Dow Jones Industrial Average passed the 10,000-point threshold. To some this is a milestone worth noting, as evidenced by the "Dow 10,000" hats that were being passed around the floor. On the other hand, 10,000 is simply just a number, and without any context does not really inspire any greater confidence in the market.

October 16, 2009

VERSACE: Utilizing nonfinancial data in investment choices

One of the more common comments I hear when it comes to investing money - be it in stocks, mutual funds, or other investments - is "but it's cheap." My response more often than not is "it's cheap for a reason."

October 9, 2009

VERSACE: Try to remember how stocks rallied

This week marks not only the end of the September quarter, but also the nine-month mark for both the calendar year and stock market returns.

October 2, 2009

VERSACE: Protecting investment gains in an unstable economy

Over the last six months, all stock market indexes have made dramatic improvements from the plunge over the October 2007-March 2009 period. The market rally over the last six months is far from the norm and pundits, analysts and investors have adopted a more bearish view in the near term, even though many of them see a brighter longer-term market outlook. An inquiring investor would wonder how to lock in recent portfolio gains should the market at large come under pressure. Sure, one could simply liquidate positions but that has tax implications. Another is to hedge one's positions.

September 25, 2009

VERSACE: What kind of recovery lies ahead?

While signs have emerged over the past few months that the contraction has slowed, if not stopped, as depleted inventories are rebuilt, the question that is increasingly being asked is: What kind of recovery lies ahead?

September 18, 2009

VERSACE: Making a quality, informed investment through research

For more than a few personal investors, the recent run in the market has them thinking that the train has left the station. While my concern over current stock market valuations amid a canvas painted with cautious consumer and corporate behavior remains, the herd mentality can trigger feelings of being left out of the market move.

September 11, 2009

VERSACE: Healthy pullback of stocks looming?

Through the end of August, the stock market was up 16.3 percent since the start of 2009 as measured by the S&P 500. Breaking that down, the market rebound of 39 percent since early March more than offset the 19 percent fall in the index during the first two months of the year.

September 4, 2009

VERSACE: Consumers cutting back on credit

As I look around and watch consumers shop, I have noticed that generally they are doing so less. When they do shop, they have been using their credit cards less and using their cash and debit cards more. If anything, this goes against the trend line of people paying more and more by credit as we have seen over the last several years.

August 28, 2009

VERSACE: Startup delves into SEC filings for investors

One of the main tenets of this column has been that there is a need to collect and put data points in context in order to understand what is actually happening, rather than simply reading the headlines, if we want to make rational decisions about our money.

August 21, 2009