For one investment manager, the bridge to the 21st century is paved with stocks.
Dennis Grabow, chief executive officer of the Millennium Investment Corp. in Chicago, founded his company to help investors identify strategies based on the short- and long-term implications of the year 2000 computer issue. The company not only acts as a high-tech consultant to investors of all types, but also manages separate and hedge fund accounts, as well as private equity deals.
The Millennium Corp. is among the first investment management companies to focus on year 2000 issues as an investment opportunity. The company researches and analyzes the spectrum of issues associated with 2000, focusing on embedded systems, manufacturing and processing and public and private infrastructures. The company also tracks individual company compliance with year 2000 software and hardware standards.
Millennium's investment strategy applies two proprietary investment models that assess year 2000 issues and a company's preparedness.
The models predict a worldwide economic recession might occur because everything that is driven or controlled by computer programming or chips could be affected by the century change and systems adaptations will be expensive.
Millennium's theory: Companies that are well-prepared for year 2000 problems are likely to be the strongest performers as the end of the 20th century approaches.