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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: Rosy headlines obscure some troubling trends

The data flow picked up this past week, but much like what we saw with the Bureau of Labor Statistics take on February employment, the headline was far rosier than what was found upon sifting through the data in greater detail.

March 15, 2012

VERSACE: Jobs numbers moving in wrong direction

I still have the concerns I voiced last week about rising oil and gas prices and the effect they have on disposable income and consumers cautious about spending. Higher energy prices, especially at sustained levels, also are likely to pressure profits at companies, force a re-evaluation of spending and restrain hiring, particularly if demand winds up being less than expected in the coming months. According to AAAs Daily Fuel Gauge Report, gas at the pump continued to creep higher in the past week and now stands at $3.76 per gallon, up almost 30 cents in the past month.

March 8, 2012

VERSACE: Many brace for coming economic data

This past week brought a rash of economic data that showed domestic manufacturing continues to improve even though Europe and Asia are weak and slowing, respectively.

March 1, 2012

VERSACE: A short week of bad news

For what was expected to be a short and relatively quiet week in the capital markets, given a light economic data calendar, this past week has been anything but short or quiet.

February 23, 2012

VERSACE: Warning signs of risk rising for the market

The stock market has ground its way higher in the past several weeks despite mounting concerns. Through the end of last week, the Standard and Poor's 500 index was up 6.8 percent, marking one of the strongest starts to the market in a number of years.

February 16, 2012

VERSACE: If market pauses or pulls back, refresh holdings

In 1929, the Coca-Cola Co. used the slogan "The pause that refreshes" to advertise its flagship beverage. The idea was that drinking Coke would restore and provide fresh vigor. I bring that slogan up as it appears the overall stock market, which has had one of its best starts in more than 20 years, is heading for a pause, if not a pullback.

February 9, 2012

VERSACE: Slow-as-molasses growth projected to continue

The stock market had a strong start to 2012, with the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 advancing in January, followed by a healthy start to February. Supporting the climb is the modest but continued improvement in domestic economic data and what appears to be a workable solution to the Greek debt crisis.

February 2, 2012

VERSACE: Making sense of Fed keeping interest rates low

Compared to the initial weeks of 2012, this week was chock-full of activity from a pickup in corporate earnings, Republican presidential candidate debates, the State of the Union address, economic forecast updates and, of course, the latest economic data. While we get to what all of this means in a bit, it would be remiss of me not to mention that this week the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to its highest level in more than three years and is up 4.9 percent so far this year. By comparison, the Nasdaq Composite Index is up 8.5 percent while the S&P 500 climbed 5.8 percent on a similar basis as I write this.

January 26, 2012

VERSACE: Expectations game plays out in quarterly reports

Earlier this week I received an email from a Washington Times reader asking, "With a number of companies set to report their full year 2011 results in the next few weeks and Europe back in the news, what are you watching out for in the marketplace?"

January 19, 2012

VERSACE: Starting 2012 the same as we end 2011

After the volatility the stock market has experienced this year, which clearly intensified in the second half, it comes as little surprise that it should end the last week of 2011 just that way — volatile.

December 29, 2011

VERSACE: More bumps expected on economic path in 2012

As we sprint toward the end of December and with roughly six trading days left in the year, the temptation is to say "that's a wrap" and coast in the coming days with the Christmas season in high gear and New Year's Eve right around the corner. While I can understand the temptation to do just that, recent warnings and misses from the likes of Oracle Corp., II-VI Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Emerson Electric Co. and others have me revisiting investment theses and double-checking data points on the one hand while looking at fresh ideas and companies.

December 22, 2011

VERSACE: Trimming investment dogs at the end of the year

With more than a handful of trading days to close out 2011 and the S&P 500 once again underwater on a year-to-date basis, it's time for investors to take stock of their portfolios to decide what companies and positions they should continue to own into 2012 versus those that should be jettisoned before we get there.

December 15, 2011

VERSACE: Positive signs amid economic gloom

This week we closed out 11 months of the year 2011 and with one month left to go before 2012, the S&P 500 is modestly in the red on a year-to-date basis.

December 1, 2011

VERSACE: Cybersecurity advances to ‘military grade’

There are some who would interpret the Homeland Security Department data on cyber-attacks as signs of a new growth industry, but with corporate, personal and other key data at stake, it is no laughing matter. I recently spoke with Brian Vosburgh, a solutions architect at Stonesoft Inc., a provider of network security and high availability solutions to thousands of enterprises and government agencies around the globe. Unlike other vendors, Stonesoft focuses 100 percent on developing "military grade" network security solutions that simplify management and protection.

November 17, 2011

VERSACE: Insiders are busy selling, not buying

October generated one of the best returns of any single month, with the S&P 500 up 9.1 percent, but one of the key drivers — what was thought to be progress in the eurozone bailout — is increasingly called into question.

November 3, 2011