There has been a great deal in the news about the office-sharing company WeWork, which rose to prominence over the last few years, as revenue grew rapidly and its outspoken CEO made headlines.  WeWork, and other formerly private enterprises such as Uber and Lyft, gained notoriety by obtaining higher and higher valuations from accommodating capital...Read More

This morning I read a good article in the WSJ, posted below.  The article discussed that, as a whole, stocks and bonds are pricey by historical measures.  Highly valued stocks and bonds have very likely pulled future returns forward, meaning many investors have less of an opportunity for big gains in the future. “U.S. stocks...Read More

One of the hot stocks over the last few years has been Netflix.  Clearly, the product has been extremely successful across the globe, as the company has experienced strong subscriber growth.  As of July of this year, the stock was already up 40% for the year.  Despite the success of the product and the stock,...Read More

As discussed in our last newsletter, value stocks have roared back strongly to outperform struggling momentum stocks over the last two weeks.  This is only two weeks, but it is worth discussing, because it augurs to how we see the market in the future.  How can we generate the returns we are targeting of double-digit,...Read More

Over the last week, value stocks have poised very impressive gains, while many of the momentum names have really struggled.  This is obviously very good for our deep value investment portfolios.  I want to emphasize, we should never get too excited or upset by short-term performance metrics.  With that said, value stocks are as cheap...Read More

On Monday August 5th, stocks plunged by about 3%, as escalating trade tensions continued to garner fear, after the worst week of the year last week.  The Chinese government is allowing their currency to decline, which benefits their competitive advantage on trade.  This was in response to last week’s news of additional tariffs on China. ...Read More

I’ve been warning all year about a clear and obvious bubble in consumer staples stocks.  The same can be said for utilities and many areas on the fixed income market.  This bubble has been built on the pervasive market sentiment that as long as the dividend yield is reasonably greater than what can be obtained...Read More

As we sit in year-7 of a historic bull market, with earnings likely to decline for the 3rd consecutive quarter, the lack of a margin of safety in most stocks, bonds, and real estate is becoming painfully obvious. The Federal Reserve’s record-low interest rate policies have driven all asset classes higher, to levels where the...Read More

Over the last month, we have begun to see financial stocks outperform the overall market.  If one was to ask why, most market participants would say that the perception that interest rate hikes are more likely to be forthcoming in 2016 is driving the stocks.  In a market where short-termism is the status quo, these...Read More

Today it was announced that TIAA was buying Everbank (EVER) for $19.50 per share.  Everbank is a very average bank with lower returns on equity than the big banks.  As of the 2nd quarter 2016, Everbank’s tangible book value per share was $13.24 meaning that TIAA is paying right around 1.5 times tangible book.  Because...Read More