Leon Cooperman, Omega Advisors, Shuns Bonds

Bloomberg reports Leon Cooperman, the founder and manager of Omega Advisors, told investors Tuesday at Value Investing Congress in New York that he “wouldn’t be caught dead owning a U.S. government bond.”

Cooperman says He is ‘Too Smart to Play That Game’

Cooperman has been in finance for almost 50 years, starting his career at Goldman Sachs in the late 1960s. Roughly 20 years ago, he started his fund Omega Advisors. Cooperman explained his reasoning saying that investors should avoid Treasuries because yields are at record lows. “Not because I have a problem with the credit. I have a problem with paying 35 percent on the 2 percent to Uncle Sam, and then have a 2 to 3 percent rate of inflation,” he said. “It’s confiscation of my capital. I think I’m too smart to play that game.”

Leon Cooperman Prefers Stocks

Leon Cooperman thinks that stocks are the better bet all around. He told investors at the Congress “Stocks are cheap relative to history, relative to inflation, relative to interest rates,” he said. “The recent facts suggest the economy is accelerating moderately.” Cooperman finished by recommending 10 stocks: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX), KKR Financial Holdings LLC (KFN), Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), SLM Corp. (SLM), Transocean Ltd. (RIG), E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), Sunoco Inc. (SUN), ACE Ltd. (ACE) and Energy XXI (Bermuda) Ltd. (EXXI).