AFG Quantitative Review – Q3 2020
The transition into Q4 is accompanied by a notable milestone. The Applied Finance Group turns 25 years old today! We want to take this opportunity to thank our research partners that appreciate the merit of […more]
Articles by John Holt, CFA
John Holt, CFA joined Applied Finance in 2014 and is involved in the management of both quantitative strategies and analyst driven strategies.
Small Cap Growth: Most Expensive Valuation Since Tech Bubble
This is a follow up piece to a recent article focusing on large cap stocks. This commentary will instead look at small cap value/growth relative attractiveness, as well as compare large and small caps. The […more]
Valuation Analysis – Time to Reconsider Large Cap Value & Growth Allocations
Applied Finance has calculated Valuations of major indices on a monthly basis since September of 1998. Calculating the Intrinsic Value upside/downside of every company in an index such as the Russell 1000, we can then […more]
Book/Price – A Broken Factor
In the past 5-10 years, investors have seen drastic underperformance from traditional value factors. Russell style indices, which use sales growth, earnings growth, and book/price to determine value and growth, have seen a strong divergence in performance since the 2008 recession. Let’s examine Russell Value/Growth Anomalies, Share Repurchases and Intellectual Assets.
[…more]
Market Realized Earnings & Forecasts
The S&P 500 recently crossed into new all time highs as the market shrugs off the coronavirus threat. Applied Finance’s database processes forecast data for over 20,000 companies worldwide. We decided to take a look […more]
Is the S&P 500 a Value, Core, or Growth strategy?
Is the S&P 500 a Value, Core, or Growth strategy? It depends.
The push in megacap stocks has caused index concentration to be at the highest levels since the 1970’s. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic and drop in interest rates has led investors to favor Growth stocks so far this year, exacerbating the trend. […more]
Shareholder Yield in the Era of Low Interest Rates
Investors too often focus solely on dividends, when they should consider a combination of dividends and share repurchases. In a decade-long spell of low interest rates, public companies have strong incentives to reconsider their capital […more]
Tracking Valuation Hazards: How risky are markets today?
Tracking Valuation Hazards: How risky are markets today? During the Covid-19 pandemic, tech and other internet companies have routinely seen good performance as consumers have been forced to work from home, isolate and disregard certain […more]
Will the Mega Cap Dominance Continue?
The largest few companies in the US have dominated performance over the past 4-5 years. The recent Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this trend in recent months. In particular, the largest five companies the in US […more]
Valuation Investing During Financial Crises & Recoveries
Over the past 25 years, Applied Finance has studied market patterns and trends using millions of Valuations. The firm’s live database goes back to 1998, with further data starting from the early 1990’s. The two […more]