News & Views

News & Views

David (Dave) Iben CFA

David Iben is the Lead Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik Global All-Cap and Global Unconstrained strategies, and the Co-Portfolio Manager of the Kopernik International and Global Long-Term Opportunities strategies. He is the Chief Investment Officer, Managing Member, Founder, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of Kopernik Global Investors.

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Don't Cry For Me Argentina (Feb 2024)

In his latest commentary, CIO Dave Iben builds upon the previously released commentary Money, using Argentina's economic history and drawing from our recent experience in Latin America as an analogue to spark a discussion on unlocking investment opportunities amidst the rising inflationary environment. We encourage investors to engage in comparison shopping, own stores of value, and consider option-laden investments. Opportunities abound, and discerning investors can capitalize on marketplace dislocations. Discover why active management is crucial amidst rising inflation concerns and gain insights into identifying resilient investments.

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Money (Dec 2023)

In his latest commentary, CIO Dave Iben delves into the essence of money: what it is, and why it matters. Exploring the seismic shift of monetary debasement, he highlights the yet-unfelt repercussions across the economy. Analyzing historical patterns of substantial government debt and deficit spending reveals sustained inflationary pressures on the horizon. While inflation may hinder some investments, astute investors seeking potential asymmetric returns are primed to excel in this landscape. As we step into 2024, Kopernik sees abundant market opportunities.

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Jacoby Transfers (Jul 2023)

In his latest commentary, Jacoby Transfers, Kopernik CIO Dave Iben draws on the wisdom of the stoic philosophers to discuss the importance of looking at things from different vantage points and how Kopernik’s research process is an example of Charlie Munger’s reminder to “Invert—always invert.”

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Proud Mary (Mar 2023)

For his latest commentary, our CIO Dave Iben looks at the Fed's implicit loosening of monetary policy as a result of the liquidity provided in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. He once again takes readers on a journey down the migratory flow of the Cantillon River in search of scarce, necessary assets that hold their value in inflationary times. Describing how the market’s approach to valuing hard assets is misguided, Dave lays out how the value of those assets increases with time and describes Kopernik’s approach to valuing these scarce, necessary resources.

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The Nifty Seven (Jan 2024)

As Benjamin Graham points out, "The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists." In her year-end letter, Deputy CIO Alissa Corcoran highlights the extreme optimism and pessimism in today's markets. Drawing parallels to the 1960s and 1970s, she notes that there are similarities in investor psychology and warns of the risks when price is not considered in investment decisions.

The U.S. momentum market is on a roll. However, Kopernik is finding opportunities by venturing into less loved areas of the market, such as real assets and emerging markets. Corcoran argues that now may be the time for investors to sell to optimists and focus on the fundamentals.

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Uranium 2023 (Dec 2023)

In the third iteration of our uranium whitepaper, Kopernik energy analyst Stephen Rosenthal explores the state of uranium investing in 2023. When our previous whitepapers came out, uranium was far from popular with investors - now, it seems like we’re finally sitting at the cool kids’ table in the investing cafeteria.

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Misunderstandings Present Great Opportunities (Jan 2023)

In his latest commentary, Kopernik analyst and co-portfolio manager for the International Strategy, Mark McKinney analyzes and compares how the current developed world’s characteristics such as inflation, excessive deficits, censorship and politicized economic decision-making are looking more like emerging markets. This begs rethinking the prevailing rules and risks applied in the valuations of both. Is the valuation premium awarded to developed markets for so long still warranted? Or do emerging markets with sizable discounts offer better investment opportunities due to the misunderstood risks?

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A Differentiated Approach to ESG (July 2022)

In this whitepaper on ESG, Kopernik’s investment research team provides an update to our March 2021 webinar on the same topic. In summary, ESG is important, complex, and nuanced. This whitepaper will give an update on how we think about the current ESG environment, provide examples of the types of ESG risks we are evaluating, and explain how we integrate ESG risk into our valuation process.

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Managing Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio (July 2022)

In this whitepaper, Kopernik’s investment research team builds on our April 2022 webinar about geopolitical risk, breaking down our process and examples of both successes and losses in emerging markets. Evaluating geopolitical risk has always been a key factor in our global investment process. As global crises have made our role as investment manager more crucial than ever, our mission of being independent thought leaders could not be more pertinent.

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Fear is Good (July 2022)

In his latest commentary, Kopernik analyst and co-portfolio manager for the International Strategy, Mark McKinney, compares today’s U.S. market to the tech bubble of the late 1990s and 2000s. He also gives examples of the many “mini bubbles” that have already burst under the surface of the bigger names in the index. Lastly, there are some thoughts on the US Dollar, inflation, and gold.

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MarketWatch | Analyst Taylor McKenna on Silver's Investment Appeal | September 13, 2023

Kopernik’s Taylor McKenna spoke with MarketWatch about silver and gold’s performance and the opportunities the firm is finding with mining companies. Read the full story here

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Benzinga Gold Conference | Kopernik Analyst Taylor McKenna on Gold Miners | July 20, 2023

Kopernik Analyst Taylor McKenna joined Benzinga’s Virtual Gold Conference last week to discuss opportunities in the sector and the gold miners Kopernik maintains strong conviction in. We remain especially bullish on junior miners, like Seabridge Gold and Equinox Gold.

Watch the replay of the conference here to check out Taylor’s thoughts, beginning at the 20-minute mark.

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Bloomberg Daybreak | Kopernik's Corcoran on Global Investing | June 1, 2023

Kopernik Deputy CIO Alissa Corcoran appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss why the current environment doesn’t deter Kopernik from capitalizing on the attractive opportunities present in commodity investing.

You can watch Alissa’s interview here.

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Tampa Bay Business Journal | Profile on Kopernik's President Neda Yarich | June 9, 2023

Kopernik’s President Neda Yarich was profiled in a story by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. She discussed our firm’s 10-year milestone, her professional trajectory, and why proper ESG integration requires a certain amount of critical thinking.

Read the full story here. 

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2023 Fund Manager Lifetime Achievement Award

Kopernik is proud to announce that founder and CIO Dave Iben received the 2023 Fund Manager Lifetime Achievement Award from the London Value Investor Conference. Watch the full video announcement here.

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Tampa Bay Business Journal | Profile on Kopernik - May 31, 2023

In honor of our 10-year anniversary, Kopernik was profiled in a story by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Our Founder and CIO Dave Iben and President Neda Yarich discussed Kopernik’s success, growth, and why it has always paid to be a contrarian investor.

Read the full story here.

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