Kyle Bass on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's rebooted Wall Street Week continues their run of impressive guests with Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital joining them this time around.

Their discussion started by talking about taking the leap of starting your own firm and Bass' play on the housing crisis.

They also talked about how excess capacity fueled by debt has now led to oversupply of various things, which has led to deflation.

Bass feels strongly that China is going to "dramatically devalue its currency" and walked through his thoughts on China in-depth.

Embedded below is the video of Kyle Bass' interview on Wall Street Week:



For previous interviews from this show, head to Wall Street Week's episode with Point72's Doug Haynes.

Point72's Doug Haynes on Wall Street Week

Point72 Asset Management's President Doug Haynes just appeared on Wall Street Week.  Point72, of course, is Steve Cohen's latest investment vehicle after he closed SAC Capital.  While SAC managed outside money, Point72 emerged as a family office to manage internal assets.

Point72's mission statement is threefold: to be the premier asset management firm (generate highest risk adjusted returns), have the highest ethical standards, and offer the best opportunities for the brightest talent.

Haynes said that the proliferation of hedge funds has really ratcheted up competitiveness in the market and has also increased crowding.  He mentioned they looked at the amount of alpha available and over the last 20 years it's down by half.  He notes, "The cost of being excellent in the industry keeps going up."

We previously linked to how Point72 has started an academy for analysts.

Haynes said that they like the healthcare sector and retail/consumer sectors now.  He notes they're looking at the innovation pieces of the economy.

Embedded below is the video of Haynes' interview on Wall Street Week:



Be sure to also check out Donald Drapkin's appearance on Wall Street Week as well as Ricky Sandler's interview.

Donald Drapkin on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted show Wall Street Week this time around featured Donald Drapkin of Casablanca Capital, as well as former NYSE Chairman & CEO Dick Grasso and James Frischling of NewOak.

Embedded below is the video of Drapkin's appearance on Wall Street Week:



For more from this show, check out Steve Tananbaum's appearance on Wall Street Week as well as their previous interview with Eminence Capital's Ricky Sandler.

Goldentree's Steve Tananbaum on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted version of Wall Street Week recently interviewed Steve Tananbaum of Goldentree Asset Management.

Goldentree manages $24 billion and has a bottom up value process focused on the credit markets.

Tananbaum commented on the recent market volatility, noting that investors all have differing views on what we should be concerned about: the Federal Reserve tightening, China issues, potential instability in Europe, etc.  He says that's what the market is struggling to prioritize.

He also notes that the bond market isn't as concerned with the direction of earnings.

As far as sectors go, Tananbaum said he thinks the media sell-off has been overdone, and singled out Time Warner (TWX) and Tribune Media (TRCO).

Embedded below is the video of Tananbaum's appearance on Wall Street Week:



If you missed it, be sure to also check out Eminence Capital's Ricky Sandler on Wall Street Week as well as Mario Gabelli's interview.

Eminence Capital's Ricky Sandler on Wall Street Week: KORS, EBAY/PYPL, ZNGA, RGC & More

Ricky Sandler, founder of hedge fund Eminence Capital, was recently interviewed on Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted show Wall Street Week.

Eminence manages $6.5 billion now and has been running for 17 years.  Sandler focuses on "quality value," looking for quality businesses but trading at discount prices.  He likes the intersection of growth and value, focusing on a "growth at a reasonable price" approach.

He likes Michael Kors (KORS) and notes it was a momentum stock that experienced a deceleration and he thinks it's a terrific brand that has opportunity for international expansion, trading at under at 10x PE.

Sandler also touched on eBay (EBAY), which recently split off its payments arm PayPal (PYPL).  The standalone EBAY is now purely an online marketplace.  Sandler says PYPL trades about for 20x earnings when you back out the cash, and it has 20% growth "for as far as the eye can see."

The Eminence founder also talked about gaming plays Zynga (ZNGA), Activision (ATVI), Take Two Interactive (TTW), and Ubisoft (UBI.PA).

Eminence is also short Regal Cinemas (RGC).

We've highlighted some other portfolio activity from Eminence here.

Embedded below is the video of Ricky Sandler's Wall Street Week interview:



For more, be sure to check out Mario Gabelli's interview on Wall Street Week from last week too.

Mario Gabelli's Interview on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted Wall Street Week this time around interviewed GAMCO's Mario Gabelli.

Gabelli says you have to work harder than others if you want to succeed, but having a good education is also a good place to start.

They also talked about how Gabelli essentially pioneered private market intrinsic value investing and Gabelli said that, "if a company's publicly traded, what would it be worth if it went private?"  He looked at the spread between what it's trading for and what it's worth.

He tries to stay in his circle of competence, focuses on competitive dynamics in a given stock's industry, and then looks at the balance sheet to determine the downside first.

One of Gabelli's bets these days is a top down view on water.  He notes that it's being consumed and used increasingly around the globe and so he wants to play the infrastructure support.  They've bought Xylem (XYL), Badger Meter (BMI), and Mueller Water (MWA), Gorman-Rupp (GRC), as well as other companies that make products used to test water.

Lastly, Gabelli wants to earn companies that can have earnings in either an inflationary or deflationary environment.  For a short-term trade (1-2 years) he likes Scripps Broadcasting (SSP).

Embedded below is the video of Gabelli's interview on Wall Street Week:



If you missed it, be sure to check Marc Lasry's Wall Street Week interview as well as Steve Einhorn's interview.

Marc Lasry on Wall Street Week: "Huge Opportunities" in Energy Debt & Europe

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky this week on Wall Street Week interviewed Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital, which now has $14 billion in assets under management after initially starting with around $7 million.  Lasry likes to take fixed income risk but generate equity-like returns.


Lasry noted that he's been seeing "huge opportunities" in the energy sector, mainly due to the fact that oil's gone down.  He says you don't want to be an equity holder, but you want to be a senior debt holder.

He's also finding some investments in Europe as the banks over there are deleveraging.  Avenue is buying assets at 60-70 cents on the dollar from people who are required to sell due to regulatory pressure.

On what he looks for in an investment:  "We're trying to buy something we think is worth 100 cents for 60 cents on the dollar.  So you're always trying to buy something at a discount to what you think the asset value is.  And you can only do that when you're buying from non-economic sellers... someone who's nervous or somebody who has to sell.  So you need to have a lot of drama or issues around the world."

Embedded below is the video of Marc Lasry's appearance on Wall Street Week:



Be sure to check out previous Wall Street Week episodes like their interview with David Rubenstein as well as Steve Einhorn here.

Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted Wall Street Week this time around interviewed Carlyle Group's co-founder David Rubenstein. 


Embedded below is Wall Street Week's interview with David Rubenstein:



Be sure to also check out Wall Street Week's interview with Steve Einhorn, who recently said there's 'more years' left in the current bull market.  We've also posted up Byron Wien's interview as well.

Steve Einhorn on Wall Street Week: "More Years" Left In Bull Market

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week this time around featured Steve Einhorn of Omega Advisors.  While many people will be more familiar with Omega's founder Lee Cooperman due to his numerous public appearances, Einhorn is an integral part of the team as well.

In his interview, Einhorn commented that Omega feels that there's still "quite a while to go" in this bull market.  While many investors anticipate markets to get choppy once rates start rising, Omega has taken a different stance.

He thinks that the situation in Greece and the timing of the rate rise aren't that important in the grand scheme of things.  He notes, "the fundamentals that largely determine how the stock market does are quite good, and partly overlooked by investors."

Embedded below is the video of Steve Einhorn's appearance on Wall Street Week (his portion starts at 18:34):



For more from Omega Advisors, we recently highlighted Lee Cooperman's latest interview.

For more from the show, be sure to check out Byron Wien's Wall Street Week interview as well.

Byron Wien's Interview on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky this week interviewed Wall Street legend Byron Wien on their rebooted Wall Street Week.

We've also previously highlighted Byron Wien's 20 lessons learned throughout his investing career.

Embedded below is the video of Byron Wien on Wall Street Week:



If you missed it, be sure to check out Bruce Richards' Wall Street Week interview.

Bruce Richards' Wall Street Week Interview on Credit, Greece & More

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week has continued its streak of impressive guests and this week interviewed Bruce Richards of Marathon Asset Management.

Marathon focuses on global credit and manages around $12.5 billion. He thinks US equity markets are looking at 3-5% returns going forward given the vast run up over the past few years.  Overall, he says "it's a difficult time to invest."

However, he sees some opportunities in Europe as quantitative easing is just getting started over there and economies are growing and banks are well healed.

He also sees some good plays in emerging markets in debt in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and others.  Additionally, he's involved in Puerto Rico via playing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).

Richards also talked about position sizing, noting that 5% is their max, as they favor diversification and typically build 1-2% position sizes.

Embedded below is the Wall Street Week video with Bruce Richards:




And in this web extra video clip, they sit down with Bruce Richards again to give an updated look at Greece given all the activity there:



For more great interviews, head to Carl Icahn on Wall Street Week as well as Jim Chanos on Wall Street Week.

Lee Cooperman on Wall Street Week: Market Not Cheap, But Not Priced To Perfection Either

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's Wall Street Week recently interviewed Omega Advisors' Lee Cooperman.  He manages around $9.5 billion nowadays.


On the current stock market, Cooperman says, "It's not cheap, but it's not priced to perfection."

He also addressed the potential looming interest rate hikes by noting that historically, the market is higher one year after the first rate hike.  He says you only have to start to worry once rates get high enough that they start to compete with stock market returns.

He noted, "There's no question that every asset has benefited by our interest rate policy.  Having said that, a bubble is not in the stock market... if there's a bubble, it's in the bond market."  This echoes what Carl Icahn said on his Wall Street Week appearance as well.

Two specific stocks Cooperman commented on were Chimera (CIM) as well as Citigroup (C).

He talked about how he first looks at the market to discern whether it's overvalued or undervalued, and then he drills down to specific companies to see where some value might be.  He's always looking for "more growth at a lower multiple" and likes to hunt for mispricings in the market.

Embedded below is the video of Lee Cooperman's interview on Wall Street Week:



Be sure to check out other recent fund manager appearances, such as Jim Chanoss interview on Wall Street Week.

Carl Icahn on Wall Street Week: Part 2

Anthony Scaramucci and Gary Kaminsky's show Wall Street Week this week featured the second part of their interview with Carl Icahn.  We previously posted the first part of their Icahn interview here where he said he was very concerned about high yield bonds.

In the second part of this interview, they talked about how you have to go through the pain of losing money to learn how to become a good investor.  Icahn says you also have to have an "obsessive nature" to be great.

Icahn also extensively walks through his background and how he was a stock picker, got into options, eventually started making arbitrage plays, and eventually to activism.

Embedded below is the video of the second part of Carl Icahn's interview on Wall Street Week:



For more from this show, head to Jim Chanos' recent appearance on Wall Street Week.

Jim Chanos on Wall Street Week: Short Selling, Sotheby's, Energy, China & More

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted version of Wall Street Week continues its streak of impressive guests.  This week, Kynikos Associates founder and noted short seller Jim Chanos appeared on the program.

He talks about how he got involved in the stock market and why short selling is important.

Chanos also touched on why it's important to set capital limits (position sizes) on shorts.  While a short can only go to zero, it can move against you and technically go up infinity.  When a short position moves against you, it actually gets larger in size.  So you have to ask yourself: how much am I willing to bet on this position?  He mentioned 2% to 3% as a typical sized short and never more than 5%.  "Never let one idea carry you out."

As to where he looks for shorts, he likes: flawed accounting, structurally unsound businesses, and businesses on the wrong side of a deep cycle.

Specifically, Chanos noted he is short Sotheby's (BID) as the company has benefited from the easy money generated by quantitative easing worldwide.  While he sees the company as a proxy for measuring how the ultra wealthy are faring (are they buying more art and fine goods or not?), he argues that BID is not a good way to play that because their business model is deteriorating as they compete with Christie's and super dealers.

Chanos also notes he's bearish on the energy space as the integrated oil space has problems.  We've detailed Chanos' presentation at the SALT conference. 

Lastly, he also shared his views on China.


Embedded below is the video of Jim Chanos' appearance on Wall Street Week:



If you missed them, be sure to check out Barry Rosenstein's appearance on Wall Street Week, as well as Carl Icahn's interview and Jeff Smith's appearance as well.  Jeff Gundlach also appeared too.

Michael Novogratz on Wall Street Week

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted show Wall Street Week recently interviewed Fortress Investment Group's Michael Novogratz.

He talked about how macro trading/investing is a mix of analyzing various inputs and that, "Trusting that intuition is the hardest part of this business."

Novogratz also talked about the activity in the bond market and how some investors are calling for a top.  He thinks the mentality has shifted from "buy the dip mentality to a sell the rip mentality."

He also thinks macro investing will enter some fertile ground soon.  With the Federal Reserve probably raising rates in September, he thinks that will trigger a series of portfolio adjustments.

Embedded below is the video of Novogratz's appearance on Wall Street Week:



Be sure to scroll through interviews with other prominent hedge fund managers on Wall Street Week here.

Starboard Value's Jeff Smith on Activism: Wall Street Week Interview

Starboard Value's Jeffrey Smith recently appeared on Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted version of Wall Street Week.  In his appearance, Smith talks about his career background, how he got into investing, and of course activism.

On his approach, Smith says, 

"We look at businesses as to how they can be run better for the long-term.  We're looking at how companies can earn more money, be more profitable for the long-term. We're looking to make changes to those companies so they can run better.  But we're also willing to ask the shareholders what they think, to provide shareholders with a choice."

We also recently highlighted that Starboard took a stake in Brink's.  He said if you look at their margins, they're half of their main competitor.  So the thesis here is pretty simple as Smith thinks they can improve their margins and work with the company.

Embedded below is Jeffrey Smith's interview on Wall Street Week:



If you missed it, be sure to check out other Wall Street Week episodes like their interview with Carl Icahn, their interview with Jeff Gundlach and with Barry Rosenstein as well.

Carl Icahn on Wall Street Week: Worried About the High Yield Market

Anthony Scaramucci's rebooted show Wall Street Week just finished its third episode and this week they had on activist investor Carl Icahn.

He talked about the markets and said "I'm very concerned about the market.  You have a situation where this market keeps going up and up with zero interest rates and that's what's really pushing it.  And yet, a lot of the economic news isn't all that good and also, perhaps more importantly, earnings aren't good."

"We're very hedged."  It sounds like he's using CDS and derivatives to hedge his portfolio.

Icahn said he's even more worried about something else:  "What's even more dangerous than the actual stock market is the high yield market.  I think it's ridiculously high." 

He then went to talk about activism and how he's been involved over the years.

And lastly, he talked about his investment in Apple (AAPL) and how it's almost doubled since he first got involved but he hasn't sold a share (and he's actually bought more on the way up).

Embedded below is the video of Carl Icahn's appearance on Wall Street Week:



For other great episodes of Wall Street Week, check out their interviews with JANA Partners' Barry Rosenstein as well as DoubleLine Capital's Jeff Gundlach.

Jeff Gundlach's Appearance on Wall Street Week

The classic show Wall Street Week has recently been rebooted by Skybridge Capital's Anthony Scaramucci.  The first episode recently aired and featured DoubleLine Capital's Jeff Gundlach.

In it, Gundlach talks about his specialty: fixed income markets.  He pointed out that in 2018-2019, there will be tons of bond maturities.

He's also worried about junk bonds:  "One thing that I think is really important that nobody talks about or has been thinking about is the entire life of the junk bond market has been secularly declining interest rates."

On what will happen to the junk bond market when interest rates go up, Gundlach proclaimed: "I think that's the next bond market crisis."

On interest rates, Gundlach said, "I think the probability of a rate hike in June is very, very low." He also thinks it could be possible that the Fed doesn't raise rates at all in 2015.  He emphasized that the Fed is data dependent and so the data will need to give them a reason to act.

Embedded below is the video of Jeff Gundlach's appearance on Wall Street Week, which starts around the 3:30 minute mark: