The Rise and Fall of Andy Zaky

Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Andy Zaky, whose work I’ve long appreciated:

As Apple’s share price climbed and Zaky’s fame spread, investors clamored to get in. In June 2012 he opened his newsletter up to a flood of new subscribers, charging the members of this group $200 a month. At its peak, Bullish Cross Pro had 700 subscribers and a lively bulletin board where Zaky would often field more than 500 comments and questions a day.

Meanwhile, he was onto something even bigger. In late 2011 he’d launched Bullish Cross Capital L.P. — basically an Apple-only hedge fund — with a handful of subscribers. By the spring of 2012, the fund’s investor rolls had grown six fold.

In a Form D filed in November 2012, Zaky reported to the Securities Exchange Commission that Bullish Cross Asset Management (BCRAM) had attracted 28 limited partners with an average investment of $378,000. The minimum investment, which started at $250,000, had grown to $500,000 by March 2012.

Elmer-DeWitt cites my linking to Zaky’s “buy” recommendation on 17 May last year. I wrote then:

This is only the fifth time Zaky has issued a buy on Apple. He’s four-for-four.

Now he’s five-for-five. Apple’s share price went way up in the months after May. But Zaky wasn’t able to profit from the rise he foresaw, and got caught short when it began to fall.

★ Monday, 4 March 2013