Economic Cycles and Mean Reversion
In 1999, Warren Buffett gave a rare explanation of why he felt the stock market would generate poor returns for investors over the long haul. He used simple arithmetic to show that elevated valuations and profit margins made equities vulnerable. The piece was 9 pages, over 4,000 words long, and had a single exhibit.
Mean Reversion, Market Prices & Common Sense
Mean Reversion Made Simple - This paper provides simple context to what are often difficult and highly emotional decisions around money. KCR spent much of 2020 and 2021 producing evidence that the valuations of popular fast growth stocks would lead to their demise. Since the peak in 2021, stock speculation has gone from popular to perilous.
Market Neutral Strategy: Transcript & Video
At KCR, we believe in solving problems and one of the greatest issues we hear from subscribers is how to compound...
Large Cap Core Funds: Growth Funds in Hiding?
US Large Cap Core Funds: Historical Weights at Various Levels of Valuations - To summarize, historically, investors in large cap core index funds had the bulk of their money invested in stocks with reasonable valuations with negligible exposure to stocks valued over 10x price to sales.
“Enroned” an Update On High Prices & Low Quality Stocks
The phrase “I got Enroned” has entered the investing lexicon recently. KCR believes the term is slang to describe the losses being incurred by investors in stocks with indefensible valuations and low-quality accounting. This piece updates our January work identifying the stocks most like Enron today.
MO Stock PE Ratio Offers Cash Backed Income
Beginning in March of 2021, KCR’s quantitative research has provided consistent evidence that Staples and Energy stocks present investors with the opportunity to buy companies of high quality for unusually low prices. Subsequent to our evidence-based models’ endorsement, we engaged in a fundamental review of both sectors and the specific stocks our models favored. Steeped in academic research done by...
Asset Allocation in Bear Markets
Asset Allocators & The Need for Discipline - The chart below shows the compound return spread from investing in the Russell 1000 Growth Index less an equal investment in the Russell 1000 Value Index.
Is it Too Late to Buy Oil Stocks?
We get asked this question. A lot. Investors, scorched by multiple expansion in speculative stocks, are understandably concerned about the movement of prices in oil and gas. We believe the reason to invest in oil stocks stems from a fundamental backdrop for the sector, unlike anything we have seen in our careers.
Tesla PS Ratio & The Coming “Tax” on Index Fund Owners
The Persistence of High-Priced Stocks Sitting on High Hopes - Tesla PS Ratio: A Stock Price & Market Capitalization Problem Owned by the Many
Carvana Investor Relations: A Tough Slog Ahead?
First, an important note: We have no beneficial interest for or against Carvana. Carvana has been panned by us here, here, and here, by Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, Seeking Alpha, Medium and by numerous other skilled and historically informed investors. On January 7th of this year, Carvana was the lead out stock in our “Enron look-alikes” list based on a proprietary KCR screen designed to….identify Enrons.
Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund: The Myth of Low Cost Indexing
A warning to long-time readers: we are about to agree with Elon Musk and Cathie Woods on something. They have come out against index funds due to the belief that they deprive investors of winners like Tesla (Ms. Woods) and that they have too much voting power (Mr. Musk).
Consumer Staples Sector: A Speculative Refuge
Protecting & Growing Wealth in the Age of Uncertainty - From 2017 - 2020, speculative trading on predatory apps like Robinhood became a true stock market mania. The catastrophic misallocation of capital was, briefly, a very profitable endeavor. We did not flinch.