By Jack Forehand (@practicalquant) It was a cold October day in 2016. I woke up at 3 AM to fly to see the biggest institutional client we had in our…
Capitalism is Ruling Without Capital
The stock market is “increasingly populated by intangible companies,” according to a recent article in Bloomberg that discusses the trend’s implications. “Some 40% of public stocks quoted in the U.S.…
Damadoran on the Dilemma of Disruption
At the 2019 CFA Institute Equity Research and Valuation Conference, NYU finance professor Aswath Damadoran spoke about disruption and the challenge associated with valuing disruptors. “As human beings, we don’t…
Thaler Warns to Sell Losers Before 2019
In a recent interview with Barron’s, behavioral economist and Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler said that although investors should sell their losing stocks at year-end, they resist doing so. Thaler said,…
Buffett’s Resolutions for 2020
This past year was “unremarkable” for Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway as the conglomerate’s cash hoards continued to grow and any “elephant” acquisitions remained elusive. This according to a recent article…
Excess Returns, Episode 6: The Case Against Value Stocks
Confirmation bias is one of the biggest problems in investing. We all have a set of core beliefs, and we tend to surround ourselves with people who also believe them…
Stock Market Forecasts are Mostly Worthless
A recent article in The New York Times suggests ignoring the predictions of Wall Street strategists in favor of investing in cheap, diversified index funds. “Strategists, some of whom are…
Peter Lynch: You Can’t Beat the Market if You Only Index
Barron’s recently profiled legendary investor Peter Lynch with a lengthy retrospective on his humble beginnings, his successful career at Fidelity and highlights from a December interview. Here are some key…
The Defining Disaster for Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman
In his new book What It Takes: Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence, Blackstone chairman, CEO and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman shares insights from his long career and, specifically, lessons learned…
Tracking Fund Performance is Tricky
For mutual fund investors, “persistence is all that matters,” according to a recent article in Barron’s, but decoding performance track records can be a challenge. “Active managers can beat the…