From Precy Dumlao, Opalesque Asia:

Chicago-based AM Capital Management which specializes in hedge fund investment strategies for qualified institutional and individual investors, continued its winning streak in February and was up 12.78% "taking advantage of quality stocks" versus the DOW index + 2.52%, NASDAQ + 4.83%, and the S&P 500 index at + 4.05%.

The fund started 2012 with a strong 21.19% gains in January after taking advantage of "deeply discounted prices in specific companies".

Since its inception on July 1, 2009 the fund achieved gains up 54.21% return over a 32 month period as of the end of February 29, 2012 versus the DOW index 53.33%, NASDAQ 60.70%, and the S&P 500 index at 48.31% over the same period of time. Neither of these returns includes additional dividends that may also have been distributed.

AM Capital President Aaron Miller said in an interview with Opalesque that the firm believes that from a reward standpoint, those quality stocks offered them some upside. "Also February was a rare month as some of our shorts went down, but some also went up so being short wasn't overly expensive in a rising market," Miller said.

He continued, "On the micro front our position is that earnings will still hold up however AM Capital will not be surprised if the market moves sideways and starts to get choppy. We feel some sectors have more upside than others, but we will be surprised if there is a big move up like from October 2011 through February 2012 because that came after a huge break and there is enough uncertainty on the macro front that I mentioned. Having said that, AM Capital believes research and executing your convictions is going to be essential to outperform significantly in the near term."

But in the near term, AM Capital believes that the market has more risk than reward in many sectors. Miller stated that AM Capital plans on being aggressive in pursuing these rewards, but not careless. "As always we implement our strategy on over and undervalued opportunities we locate," he said.

For the rest of the year, Miller said his firm feels that the market could go higher, but not significantly. However barring an unforeseen event, which could always happen, AM Capital anticipates breaks that could create opportunities, "but nowhere near a 20% break we had in such a brief period of time in 2011. A 3-8% break would not be surprising," Miller pointed out.

Commenting on the volatile oil prices because of the latest tension in Iran that saw crude prices to jump $107 a barrel Monday in Asia, Miller said these could create a problem for consumers because it would take buying power out of consumers’ pockets.

He added, "We also believe that the United States debt creates concerns as well. We also believe that as Europe is improving its still unclear how that's going to shake out. You put into the equation that this is an election year we feel going forward there will be opportunities, but you are going to be better served taking advantage of under and over valued stocks."