Matrix Asset Advisors Chief Investment Officer Sees "Opportunistic Large Cap Value" As Current Sweet Spot In Market

• On 6:59 am EDT, Wednesday October 21, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - October 21, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its TWST Investing Strategies Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 34 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with top tier Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Top-down and Bottom-up Opportunities-Active Management-Multiple Asset Allocation-Tactical Asset Allocation-Canadian Stocks-Debt/Equity Ratios-Qualitative and Quantitative Approach-Large Cap Opportunistic Value-Low Valuation-Sustainability of Return-Price-to-Earnings-Price-to-Book Value Basis-Uncovering Compelling Values-High Returns on Investment

Companies include: Agrium (AGU); Airgas (ARG); American Express (AXP); Anadarko Petroleum (APC); Analog Devices (ADI); Avnet (AVT); BCE Inc. (BCE); Bank of America (BAC); Bank of Montreal (BMO); Broadcom (BRCM); CVS Caremark (CVS); Canadian National Railway (CNI); Chevron (CVX); Cisco (CSCO); Conoco (COP); Devon Energy (DVN); Disney (DIS); Enbridge (ENB); Garmin (GRMN); Genzyme (GENZ); Johnson Controls (JCI); McKesson (MCK); Medtronic (MDT); Mettler-Toledo (MTD); Microsoft (MSFT); Monster Worldwide (MWW); Morgan Stanley (MS); Mosaic Corp (MOS); Novellus (NVLS); Omnicare (OCR); Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT); Shoppers Drug Mart (SC); Tim Hortons (THI); Time Warner (TWX); TransAlta (TAC); TransCanada (TRP); Tyco International (TYC); Valero (VLO); Wal-Mart (WMT); Walgreen's (WAG); Wendy's (WEN); Western Union (WU); Yahoo! (YHOO); Zimmer (ZMH); MasterCard (MA); eBay (EBAY).

In the following brief excerpt from just one of the in depth interviews in the 34 page report, expert asset managers discuss their current stock picks and their investment philosophy.

David A. Katz, CFA, is Matrix's President and Chief Investment Officer and has overall responsibility for the firm's investment efforts. He graduated summa cum laude from Union College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He received a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in Finance, from New York University Graduate School of Business in 1987, graduating with distinction. His numerous works on Value Investing have earned him various awards and distinctions at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Mr. Katz is a Chartered Financial Analyst. After initially working at Management Asset Corporation (Westport, CT), Mr. Katz co-founded Value Matrix Management with the late John M. Gates in 1986. He served as the firm's Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer and was Head of the Investment Policy Committee. In 1990 he merged Value Matrix Management organization into Matrix Asset Advisors. Mr. Katz chairs the Investment Policy Committee and is a Portfolio Manager/Analyst. He appears frequently as a guest on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and Radio, and WCBS-AM in New York.

Steven Pisarkiewicz is Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of Matrix Asset Advisors. His principal responsibilities are to help oversee the business development and client service efforts of the Firm. He is also a member of the Investment Policy Group sharing oversight responsibilities for portfolio construction. Mr. Pisarkiewicz joined Matrix in 2009. He earned a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Missouri in 1972, and an MBA degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. From 2007 to 2009, he served as National Managing Director for Bernstein Global Wealth Management. In this role, he directed the efforts of the firm's Financial Advisors in advising some of the largest families for whom Bernstein provides wealth management. From 2003 through 2007, he served as Executive Vice President of The Bank of New York and head of BNY Asset Management. His responsibilities included both Private Wealth Management and Institutional Asset Management. Prior to BNY, Steve spent nearly 14 years at AllianceBernstein. In his last position at AB, he was Chief Investment Officer of Structured Equity Services as well as a senior portfolio manager and member of the Investment Policy Group for value equities. Previous roles include running Institutional Sales, Consultant Relations & Client Service; when Steve joined Bernstein in 1989, he was the MD of the New York Private Client business. Prior to joining Bernstein, he was a vice president and senior consultant with SEI Corporation from 1983 to 1989, and a Director of Strategic Planning for Emerson Electric Company from 1979 to 1983.

TWST: What stocks do you feel are representative of your investment approach and what particular industries or sectors are you favoring?

Mr. Katz: The biggest sectors right now in the portfolio are technology, financials, industrials and energy, and we also have of late been building exposure in the healthcare area where we have been under-weighted. In terms of our technology positions, we are focused on the bluest chip companies, market leaders in their respective field, so names like (DELL) Dell, Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO) on the mega-cap side, of the mid-size businesses, companies like Novellus (NVLS) and Analog Devices (ADI). We also have some Internet exposure with positions in both eBay (EBAY) and Yahoo! (YHOO). In terms of the energy exposure right now, we like names such as Conoco (COP), Chevron (CVX), Devon Energy (DVN) and Valero (VLO). Energy actually has been one of the few groups that have underperformed the market by a significant margin this year. It was also a loser in last year's sell off. As a result we think energy stocks have a lot of pent-up excess performance. Oil prices have gone from $35 to $70, but the energy stocks haven't really reacted to that yet. So that's an area that we also like. We've mentioned financials before. Our favorites there are names like Morgan Stanley (MS), American Express (AXP) and Western Union (WU). We also have a position in Bank of America (BAC) which has been a rougher ride than most. But we think that the company has righted itself, that they have a very good business franchise, and have easily north of $3 per share of earnings power. So right now, we think is worth in the $35 to $40 range, hence it can go up another 100% from here. Then we have a mix of other businesses like a Walgreen's (WAG) or a Wal-Mart (WMT) or a Tyco International (TYC). On the healthcare side, we have tried to focus on businesses that are least exposed to the Obama Administration. Healthcare efforts of companies like a Medtronic (MDT) or a Zimmer (ZMH) or a Genzyme (GENZ) are all very good non-pharmaceutical businesses, which provide a lot of value and we think are less subject to politically induced pricing pressure. They are selling at 10 or 11 time earnings whereas they normally sell at an overall stock market multiple, which is significantly higher.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 34 page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse the views of any interviewees nor does it make stock recommendations.

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