Equity Investments
In the latest edition of the In Practice series, Mark Harrison, CFA, and Phil Davis summarize recent research into whether buying US equities that are underpriced based on simple fundamental-to-price ratios yields better performance than investing in broad market indexes.
Jason Voss, CFA, provides his choices for Weekend Reads for Investors. This edition features surprising facts about coffee consumption, global choke points in the food supply, graphics showing how cryptocurrencies are likely to affect finance, and more.
Leading posts from August include Preston McSwain's call for more honest and accurate fee disclosures and performance reporting; an examination of Sam Zell's take on the economy by Julie Hammond, CFA; tips on how to ace job interviews by Julia VanDeren; Will Ortel's exploration of what's in a hedge fund name; and an analysis of capital markets during times of war by Mark Armbruster, CFA.
Are investors expecting more than index funds can deliver?
Active equity managers can outperform their benchmarks, especially if they follow some important guidelines. Alpine Capital Research (ACR) and its CIO, Nicholas Tompras, CFA, provide a case study on how to implement these factors.
When investors forecast long-run drivers of stock returns, are cash dividends or payouts such as buybacks more accurate criteria than fundamentals? A new study suggests that they are. Mark Harrison, CFA, explains.
Markets frequently fail, despite their pristine reputation among capitalists. One way is the many actions taken by buyers and sellers to tilt a transaction in their favor. These visible hands create asymmetries between the parties. Jason Voss, CFA, explains.
“Emerging market equities [have] a history of headlines — mostly negative — and volatility,” said Devan Kaloo, head of global emerging markets equities at Aberdeen Asset Management. Yet there is reason for optimism, especially for those value investors who dive deeply into the fundamentals, which may be turning positive, Kaloo told attendees at the 70th CFA Institute Annual Conference.
In the final analysis, can we truly measure the emissions of our portfolio? Or understand what the actual “carbon footprint” is? No, not really, says Christopher K. Merker, CFA, but it is becoming easier.
Have the advances in technology, computing power, and data made the markets more efficient? It’s “not clear,” according to Nobel laureate Eugene Fama.