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Chris Versace

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: Slow growth in U.S. offers some comfort

With a number of countries involved in the process, I continue to expect some horse trading as the negotiations heat up and not all will get exactly what they hope for. The real question is whether the proposed solution will be sufficient.

October 27, 2011

VERSACE: Economic data, consumers remain glum

Last week, I described the stock market characterized by the S&P 500 as a roller coaster flirting with a hill it has tested several times since August. As this week has shown, the S&P 500 did not break past that resistance line and, as I write this, the index is down 1 percent this week, bringing the year-to-date performance for the S&P 500 to minus 3.5 percent.

October 20, 2011

VERSACE: Can a range-bound market break out?

Anyone who looks at a price chart for the S&P 500 over the past three months will likely paint a picture of a roller coaster in their mind, and that would be a fair characterization. During these past weeks, the S&P 500 has experienced four climbs, followed by four drops, a few of which much like a world-class roller coaster have been steep and quick.

October 13, 2011

VERSACE: When better than expected is still mediocre

After sliding on Monday, the S&P 500 moved higher mid-week, reflecting tepid optimism in the eurozone, even though here at home we had what I would call mediocre economic data. I categorize the data as mediocre because it was far from robust and did not suggest a dramatic uptick in the economy.

October 6, 2011

VERSACE: Ending the September quarter deep in the red

As we come to the end of the third quarter of 2011, people will use various words to describe the overall market, But one word that I think we can all agree aptly describes what we have seen over the past 90 days is volatile.

September 29, 2011

VERSACE: From the frying pan into the fire

The negative tone in my recent columns has been substantiated as concerns over a global slowdown have jumped and stock market indices have dropped.

September 22, 2011

VERSACE: Prospects suffer as projections are slashed

As if President Obama's American Jobs Act, more correctly called a "third stimulus" in my view, weren't a reminder of how fragile the economic recovery is, the global markets are under pressure once again from European sovereign debt concerns.

September 15, 2011

VERSACE: As weakness looms, the question of job creation weighs

As the excitement and concern surrounding Hurricane Irene subsides, investor attention will revisit recent happenings like the noncommittal commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke at Jackson Hole, Wyo., last week, and brace for the plethora of economic data ahead.

September 1, 2011

VERSACE: When will earnings catch up to economic reality?

Over the past several trading days, one might be tempted to say economic reality has started to catch up with expectations. Reading over the rash of downgrades by economists at several Wall Street brokerage firms and elsewhere, I started to think that was the case, particularly following the drop in the stock market late last week.

August 25, 2011

VERSACE: When choosing a takeout, be cautious

Volatility has been the name of the game the last several trading days. The driver you ask? The same as it has been over the last several weeks — namely ongoing sovereign debt concerns and a slowing economy.

August 18, 2011

VERSACE: Proactive investor will be building shopping list

As second quarter corporate earnings peaked and crested, we have been hit with one crisis after another — from one debt crisis to another and the near shutdown of our federal government. To say the last month has been a challenging one following a 192-point drop in the S&P 500 from its July peak (down 14 percent) amid fresh headlines warning of yet another financial crisis is an understatement.

August 11, 2011

VERSACE: Tax reform uncertainty could hinder hiring

Both investors and consumers are now aware we averted the debt crisis earlier this week. That's the good news. The bad news, however, is the solution and what it may call for in terms of potential tax reform that will fuel uncertainty and negatively impact an already weakening job market.

August 4, 2011

VERSACE: Figures show economic recovery remains elusive

While many are glued to the television and the Internet waiting for the latest on the debt ceiling and deficit reduction talks, the manufacturing economy slowed further in June as evidenced by negative durable goods figures for the month.

July 28, 2011

VERSACE: Odds are market will continue to be choppy

Earlier this week the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its best day thus far in 2011 and when I appeared on America's Radio News, one of the hosts remarked that "it was a great day in the market." While that was a good day for the stock market, I pointed out the way it takes more than one point to draw a straight line, a good stock market environment needs more than one good day to generate favorable and sustainable returns.

July 21, 2011

VERSACE: Contemplating the global new middle class

Looking back at a chart of the Standard & Poor's 500 this week, I see a market that is reeling from a number of factors and data points. Some conflict with others, and some are good only in so far as they are not as bad as they have been.

July 14, 2011

VERSACE: Don’t look for sustained gains in hiring soon

While we received some surprising domestic data late last week in the form of the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index, which moved higher in June despite a number of other unfavorable manufacturing reports in recent weeks, commodities have since moved higher from recent lows and the credit outlook for Chinas banks fell following a report by Moody's Investors Service.

July 7, 2011

VERSACE: Put ‘sell side’ information in your toolbox

There are a number of commonalities when managing money — be it as an institutional portfolio manager, a registered investment adviser, a financial planner or a self-directed investor. These include picking investments that one thinks will generate favorable results, a cost-competitive platform on which to execute those investment transactions, and the need for copious amounts of information to test and retest their investment thesis.

June 30, 2011

VERSACE: Fed chief’s keen grasp of obvious

Over the past few weeks, a number of economists have cut their domestic growth expectations following a string of weaker-than-expected data. Well, the notion of slower growth is more or less official now as the Federal Reserve on Wednesday downgraded its projections for U.S. economic growth and unemployment.

June 23, 2011

VERSACE: So go jobs, so goes housing

After six weeks of week-over-week declines, the S&P 500 is poised to deliver an up week even though economic and geopolitical concerns continue to grow.

June 16, 2011

VERSACE: June swoon in bloom?

Early this week, we left the month of May and dove headfirst into June. While most people saw the Memorial Day weekend as the official kickoff to summer, investors took the view of "two down, one to go" in terms of months in the current quarter.

June 2, 2011