News & Views

News & Views

When Doves Cry (Oct 2014)

David B. Iben, CFA discusses why we believe that valuation is the key determinant of risk (permanent loss of purchasing power) and why short-term price fluctuations are not risk, but are an annoying, often painful, creator of opportunity. While When Doves Cry reminds us of the Fed’s cooing over taking the risk out the marketplace, Prince’s apocalyptic anthem, 1999 will be used as a medium to lay out quite a bullish case for active management.

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The Saddle Ridge Hoard (Jun 2014)

Following the story of a California couple who stumbled on a coffee can filled with treasure, David B. Iben, CFA discussed the idea that investors often obsess over the wrong type of “risks’ and why this error in judgement presents outsized money-making opportunities.

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The Wizard of Oz (Nov 2013)

David B. Iben, CFA, uses the classic tale, the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, as a parody of the world’s central banks, elected representatives, Neo Keynesian academics and the rest of the central planners and why we at Kopernik plan to forsake easy gimmicks and follow the yellow “BRIC” road.

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My Fair Lady (Jul 2013)

My Fair Lady, (MFL) has been reprised many times over the decades. It started as Pygmalion in London, later coming across the Pond as MFL, and as many versions continued to be cast on various stages throughout the world, it was adapted for film and became a popular, award-winning movie. Therefore, it seems in the spirit of things to reprise my Commentary from four months ago.

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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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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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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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Financial Times Story featuring Dave Iben - Contrarian fund manager cautions against writing off Russia assets - April 10, 2022

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)

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BNN TV - Featuring Alissa Corcoran - April 27, 2022

Kopernik Deputy CIO Alissa Corcoran appeared on BNN Bloomberg to provide a rundown of investment opportunities in emerging markets and explain how Kopernik evaluates geopolitical risk. You can watch the interview here.

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The Antidote to Correlation Webinar - Managing Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio - April 7, 2022

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

PresentationManaging Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio Webinar Presentation

Transcript: Edited Transcript of Managing Geopolitical Risk in a Global Portfolio Webinar

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Bloomberg TV - Featuring Alissa Corcoran - December 7, 2021

Kopernik's Deputy CIO Alissa Corcoran appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss why Kopernik believes precious metal mining companies present an attractive investment opportunity. Watch the full segment here.

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BNN TV - Featuring Alissa Corcoran - December 21, 2021

Kopernik's Deputy CIO Alissa Corcoran appeared on Bloomberg TV to discuss Kopernik's top picks among gold miners. Watch the full segment here.

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BNN Bloomberg - Featuring Alissa Corcoran - November 9, 2021

Kopernik's Director of Research Alissa Corcoran went on BNN Bloomberg to discuss why investing in gold miners is a great way to hedge against inflation. Watch the full segment here.

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