Research

Level Set – What’s the Bull Case?

Up 23% Year-to-Date The S&P500 and NASDAQ are up 23% year-to-date, and the majority of portfolio managers we speak with believe the market will end the year higher than current levels. There is a long list of concerns from a risk-taking perspective, including potentially over-optimistic estimates for 2025, geopolitical uncertainty, a polarized and difficult-to-forecast US

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Do You Know This About Small Cap Value?

We have a meeting every day where we are asked about small cap stocks. We have recently written about mega / large cap value (LCV) investing and compared large-to-small cap. value (SCV) investing for asset allocators. SCV stocks have cumulatively performed in line with (LCV) stocks since the Financial Crisis but have lagged the S&P500 materially since 2019. SCV

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Level Set – Value or Growth: Which Requires More Arrogance?

It Used to Be Easier for Value Investors For many years, value investors would buy dips in stock prices, believing in investment cycles, which translated to predictable mean-reverting profit margins and valuations for many value stocks. If a stock was in an industry where demand and supply are cyclical, investors could gauge changes in demand

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Level Set – Election 2024: What Data Can We Analyze?

29 Days to Go One of the most challenging subjects to write about for people who analyze US equities is politics. However, following the Vice-Presidential candidates’ debate this week, and our 45-minute Zoom conversation last Wednesday, October 1st with former five-term Congressman the Honorable Harold Ford Jr. (CLICK HERE, Passcode: I6ZvuMP%) we have received several

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When Should You Buy Small Cap Value?

Many cross-asset investors have been arguing they like small cap stocks over large cap stocks, citing extreme valuation and the Fed cycle as catalysts. Last week, we focused on large cap value stocks, arguing that they may have less upside given their lower beta, lack of Financials in the universe (if investors think rates will help),

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Level Set – China Stimulus Matters

This Week Is Better than Last Week When the China stimulus was announced this week, our initial reaction was that this is a new and incremental positive. Some investors have been waiting for a stimulus announcement for several quarters, so the timing this past week was surprising, and we have concluded the intervention is incrementally

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Did You Know This About Large Cap Value Investing?

With recent interest rate cuts, many investors are seeking insights on Mega/Large Cap Value (LCV) stocks. Our analysis dives into the current state of this sector, characterized by a number of viable investment options and significant changes in market dynamics. Changing LCV universe: The number of LCV stocks has dwindled to just 65, as the Financials

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Level Set – The Worst

There’s Nothing Worse than a Wrong Consensus Bear Nothing is worse than being a consensus bear when the market keeps rallying. Most people know that September is typically a volatile month, and the average September returns are the worst of any month of the year. We flagged it, and so did everyone else. With it

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