Is the glass half full or half empty for Fortress? No doubt it had a bad 2008, when it lost $3 million. It was also forced to temporarily cease redemptions from its flagship hedge fund, Drawbridge Global Macro after $2 billion evaporated, and its stock continued to tank in the aftermath of its public offering in 2007. This was sour medicine for a company that seemed to be at the fore a new trend: Alternative investment companies going public.

So why is TheDeal.com sounding so positive? It suggest that Fortress executives "are arguably as adroit as anyone at mining profits from hard assets while curbing downside risk." It goes to conclude: "In transaction after transaction, a close examination of some of its buyouts shows, Fortress has refrained from maxing out on debt when banks were tripping over each other to lend. If anything, Fortress was guilty of overequitizing." 

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