Future Finance
A Reckoning for Value Investing as Quants Gather in London
- Bernstein’s Fraser Jenkins leads debate on beleaguered style
- GMO, Research Affiliates see opportunity for a value rebound
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On a cool October evening in the City of London, a small army of investment professionals has gathered for a reckoning. They’ve come to hear Inigo Fraser Jenkins, one of the quant industry’s most colorful commentators, opine on the fate of value investing. After years of miserable performance and fleeing cash, it should be a gloomy topic -- but Fraser Jenkins is in a playful mood.
“Where equities are quite fully valued, credit is pretty expensive, sovereign bonds are expensive, private equity is really, really expensive, maybe the only cheap thing I can go buy is value,” Sanford C. Bernstein’s head of quantitative strategy tells his audience. “With the enormous caveat that it’s very important that I have absolutely no clients at all.”