Heebner Buys Polaris While Selling Whirlpool, National Oilwell

Kenneth Heebner, who ranked as America’s No. 1 stock picker before losing his touch and most of his main fund’s assets, bought stakes in Polaris Industries Inc. (PII) during the second quarter while selling Whirlpool Corp.

Capital Growth Management LP purchased 1.44 million shares of Polaris during the three-month period that ended June 30, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Boston-based money manager bought 735,000 shares of Sherwin-Williams Co. (SHW) and sold out its stakes in Whirlpool and National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV)

Heebner, whose CGM Focus Fund (CGMFX) topped all diversified U.S. stock mutual funds in the decade through 2007, lost an annual 6.7 percent in the past five years, trailing an average gain of 2 percent by the same group, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fund’s assets plunged to $1.48 billion at the end of July from the June 2008 peak of $10.3 billion.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lu Wang in New York at lwang8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net