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, 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.
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.
Kopernik CIO Dave Iben spoke with the team at Bloor Street Capital to provide a rundown of Kopernik’s investment philosophy and explain why 25% of our assets are currently invested in gold and silver equities. Watch the two part series to learn more about how Kopernik values investment opportunities in the mining space.
Kopernik's Director of Research, Alissa Corcoran, joined Oliver Renick on TD Ameritrade Network to discuss the upside for gold mining stocks and how other commodities like uranium are trading well below their incentive price. Watch here.
Kopernik's Director of Research, Alissa Corcoran, joined Bloomberg Radio to discuss where she is finding buying opportunities in today's bifurcated market, including in commodities like uranium and gold. Listen to her full interview here.
Kopernik CIO Dave Iben recently spoke with Value Investor Insight for a feature piece on where he's finding value and why it's one of the best times ever to be an active investor. Read the full interview here to learn more about how he's identifying opportunities in high-quality companies in emerging markets as well as situations where cash flows are latent and reside in real assets.
September 10, 2020 - Director of Research/Analyst Alissa Corcoran interviews analysts Steve Rosenthal and Taylor McKenna about how Kopernik values mining companies. Although these companies may come with a lot of baggage, we believe the upside potential more than offsets the risk. We discussed how we assess the risk, the opportunities we are seeing today, and took time to answer live questions.
Please click here to watch the replay.