The Passenger (Jul 2016)
Taking cues from the 1977 Iggy Pop song bearing the same name, we discuss the distinctions between active/passive investing and why we at Kopernik prefer to be the driver, not the passenger.
Taking cues from the 1977 Iggy Pop song bearing the same name, we discuss the distinctions between active/passive investing and why we at Kopernik prefer to be the driver, not the passenger.
Drawing similarities to the famous quote by Vince Lombardi, we discuss the currently inflated perception of the importance of ‘when’, the current opportunity to ‘win’, the prevalence of people playing not to lose, some thoughts on how the game is currently being played, and how this has left stocks so undervalued that returns are likely to be lucrative even if it takes a little time to materialize.
Using the Academy Award winning film, The Big Short, David B. Iben, CFA discusses the current valuation environment of early 2016 and why the world is scripting it’s sequel. Arguing that we are not in the beginning of a bear market but rather near the late stages of a deep, powerful, psychologically challenging bear market. Dave explains the potential upside of current depressed valuations and why we are waiting patiently for an inevitable return to rationality.
David B. Iben, CFA discusses cyclicality in the financial markets. Whether it be clothes, entertainment or currencies, human preferences are ever changing making this market have an extraordinary level of peril and opportunity. And why, in the current highly-correlated investment environment, Kopernik uses a rigorous, bottom-up research process to mitigate it. Here at Kopernik, it’s still rock and roll to us.
Drawing parallels to the 1959 American TV show, David B. Iben, CFA discusses the current financial markets and why we believe, much like 1999 and 2008, we have crossed into the “twilight zone”, why this appears to be the buying opportunity of a lifetime and how Kopernik is taking full advantage where many prefer to buy high and sell low.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
Kopernik's CIO Dave Iben spoke to the Financial Times about why Russian assets still hold value, even in the wake of the war with Ukraine. Read the full feature on the Financial Times website here (Requires login)
On April 7, 2022, Kopernik Global Investors had a discussion on managing geopolitical risk in a global portfolio, apropos current events. It is Kopernik’s belief that today’s world almost requires that a considerable part of portfolios be allocated to emerging markets to provide refuge from the perils of significant overvaluations and protection from the inflation-driven erosion of purchasing power. Yet, there are many challenges when it comes to investing in developing countries. In this webinar, we discussed how Kopernik appraises and manages a portfolio of businesses in the various parts of the world.
Speakers: Alissa Corcoran, Deputy CIO, Director of Research, Analyst and Todd Tosti, Industrials Analyst
Hosted by: David Iben, Chief Investment Officer and Lead Portfolio Manager
Replay: Please use the webinar registration to view a video replay
Presentation: Managing Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio Webinar Presentation
Transcript: Edited Transcript of Managing Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio Webinar