Money manager Steve Leuthold, who earned Grizzly Short Fund investors a 74 percent return last year by shorting U.S. stocks, says now is the time to buy them.

Why? Because investors are overly pessimistic about the economy.

“These comparisons people make with the Great Depression are totally out of touch with reality, and pretty stupid,” Leuthold tells Bloomberg TV.

“We’ve been in much worse, much more panicked, and more scary situations in the U.S.”

Leuthold is in charge of $3.2 billion at Leuthold Weeden Capital Management in Minneapolis.

The economy isn’t suffering as much as in 1974, when stocks began rebounding, he says.

Leuthold predicts the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will jump to at least 1,000 this year. That would constitute a gain of 44 percent from Tuesday’s 12-year low of 696.33.

As a result, he says investors shouldn’t now buy shares of his Grizzly Short Fund, which has produced a 26 percent return for investors so far this year.

Rather, Leuthold says, investors should consider the Leuthold Core Investment Fund, which buys stocks and is currently heavy into biotechnology companies, automotive retailers and education providers.

He’s also bullish on stocks in China, Korea and Taiwan because their economies are growing faster and their banks are stronger than those in the West.

Leuthold isn’t the only bear turned bull. Investment guru Marc Faber recently told Bloomberg: “We are now more or less in an area where the market, after a final selloff, can have a reasonably good rally.”