Bill Miller's fame was built on his stunning success over a 15-year period, during which he beat the S&P 500 every year. That streak ended in 2005, and since then he's had a spotty record. These days, people are much less likely to affix the adjective "legendary" to his name.

Investment News notes that Miller's $3.4 billion Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust has declined about 2.3 percent this year, "A performance that ranks it behind 94 percent of rival funds that follow a similar strategy," according to Bloomberg data. The pitfalls of his brand of value investing has been amply on display as of late. Recall that his conviction that beaten down financial stocks were due for a rebound never quite panned out. Another case in point was Miller's misguided faith in the ability of one-time blue chip Eastman Kodak to bounce back.

In a semi-annual report recently, the fund reported that it "Sold 18.2 million Kodak shares late last year and during this year's first quarter for about $3.89 each on average. The fund realized a $551 million loss through the divestiture." That was similar in value to loss that hedge fund honcho John Paulson lost on Sino-Forest, but it didn't get nearly the same media attention. Miller started buying the stock in 2000, thinking it was a classic value play. He rode it down 90 percent until finally capitulating just recently. It's indeed been a tough road for a lot of value investors. The glory days seem long gone.

For more:
- here's the Investment News article

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