Barron's: BlackRock's CEO looks into the crystal ball

Posted Mar 29th 2008 2:40PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Boeing Co (BA), United Technologies (UTX)

About a year ago, I had a chance to hear a presentation by Laurence Fink, who is the CEO of BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), which is a mega money manager. Simply put, he was a bit concerned about the markets. With the huge amounts of leverage, he thought that investors weren't getting enough premium for the potential risk.

Yes, it was a good call. And the upshot is that BlackRock has been a stellar performer.

Well, now Fink is more sanguine. In fact, in this week's Barron's [a paid publication], there is an interview with him.

What's his take? First of all, he think investors should dip into equities, such as the big caps that benefit from global growth. Some of his choices include: General Electric (NYSE: GE), Monsanto (NYSE: MON), United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) and Boeing (NYSE: BA).

He also likes high-grade mortgage debt. Basically, the spreads are attractive (and seem to account for the risk levels).

Finally, Fink is bullish on overseas markets, especially commodity-based counties like Brazil.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Tags: BA, BlackRock, BLK, Boeing, Brazil, GE, General Electric, inthenews, Laurence Fink, MON, Monsanto, UTX