Omega's Cooperman sees signs of market bottom

Hedge-fund manager Leon Cooperman said Tuesday that most of the damage from the credit crisis has already been inflicted on the stock market.

Cooperman, the manager Omega Advisors Inc. who's been trading for more than 40 years, said the current financial markets are the most difficult he's ever seen. Still, he said, signs of a bottom in the equity market are beginning to form. "The bulk of the damage is done," Cooperman said during a speech at the Value Investing Congress in New York.

Roughly 13% of companies in the S&P 500 Index have shares with dividend yields that are higher than Treasury bonds. That's the highest level since at least 1994, he said. "I see this as a constructive sign," he said.

Moreover, the U.S. consumer is challenged by high debts, but corporations have the lowest debt-to-capital ratios in roughly 30 years, Cooperman noted.

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