In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Horseman Capital’s Russell Clark discussed his long career of being a contrarian and how, “with resolve virtually unheard of in the industry, he’s been betting on stock declines for more than seven years.” But so far, his skepticism isn’t paying off, the article reports, adding that Horseman Global lost 15 percent of its value in the first quarter amidst a rise for the S&P 500 of 13 percent. The… Read More
A recent article in Institutional Investor discusses the plight of short-sellers in the now nine-year bull market which, the article says, “is punishing these defiant minority investors to the point where it’s become hard to stay relevant as a group.” While a bullish market can provide short-sellers with “glaring opportunities for profit,” the article argues that they are also “battling animal spirits and the prevailing optimistic views of the companies they’re betting against.” They can… Read More
Billionaire fund manager and Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio is “leading his firm down a path few other funds care to tread,” that involves selling off European holdings to the tune of $22 billion. This according to a recent article in Bloomberg. The article explains that Europe’s strong economy, tight labor market and rising interest rates are factors that fulfill Dalio’s “sell” requirements. Last year, it reports, Europe’s economy grew at the fastest pace in a… Read More
A study recently published in the Journal of Financial Economics found that short sellers “on balance are right more than they’re wrong” writes Mark Hulbert for MarketWatch, arguing “it’s worrisome that the volume of short selling has risen so steadily this year.” According to University of Utah finance professor Matthew Ringgenberg, the reason that short sellers tend to do better is that it’s more challenging to sell a stock short than to buy it—that is,… Read More
A recent Bloomberg Gadfly piece observes that “investors who make bearish bets on stocks and then lay out their case publicly” have delivered a “performance as a whole [that] is not all that great in the short term – or in recent years either, at least as far as market-beating returns are concerned.” Along with a number of specific anecdotes, the article highlights data from Activist Shorts Research that shows a declining impact to the… Read More