In a recent interview with CNBC, Oakmark’s Bill Nygren shared his insights on today’s market environment and where investors may find value.
“Part of being a value investor,” Nygren said, “is predicting that things will get back to normal faster than most people expect.” He predicted, “Once most of the population has the opportunity to be vaccinated, we’ll see a rapid return to what we used to see as normal.”
Nygren believes that most of the country will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by the second quarter and the country will not have to return to the lockdowns we’ve experienced this year.
Noting the folly in attempting to time the market, Nygren argued that even if folks had been aware of all of this year’s events ahead of time, chances are they still wouldn’t have been able to predict the market’s movements.
He concluded by noting that while the market is selling at over 20 times next year’s earnings, there are still pockets of value, citing financials and travel and leisure as examples—which he said are selling at single-digit multiples based on 2019 earnings but he predicts will return to higher levels “pretty quickly.”