Doug Kass: Buying Is Back!
We have begun buying stocks that now meet our selection standards.
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Thursday I pivoted to begin buying selected equities.
This comes after having, over the last two or three years, taking an ursine market view. My concerns, written frequently on the pages of my Diary were multiple. Some of the major headwinds I’ve written about include the rising prospects for “slugfation” (sluggish economic growth and sticky inflation), the lack of fiscal discipline by Republicans and Democrats, likely higher-for-longer interest rates, and improvisational foreign policy that had potential adverse social, interest-rate and economic ramifications.
I’ve also repeatedly written about how the artificial intelligence trade has been “the straw that stirs the drink” of the U.S. economy, corporate profits and the U.S. stock market. We saw a wide range of concerns (including political objections to data-center expansion) and have questioned the optimistic return on invested capital assumptions regarding the massive AI capital spending spree here and here.
Other problems include that investor optimism seemed extreme as valuations have been elevated — with most traditional valuation metrics in the 90%-tile or higher, and that for years investors have increasingly acted as if they were at a casino (gambling/speculating and not investing). The latter was evidenced by the popularity and proliferation of leveraged exchange-traded funds and zero days until expiration options. The very market structure posed a potential risk should price momentum abruptly reverse.
But, even though our arguments had merit (and most were generally proven accurate), the markets ignored our concerns.
While the price of the S&P index has remained elevated, over the last several months we have seen a stealth bear market that has accelerated dramatically over the last week. Since the early summer, many widely-held technology stocks have fallen by 50% or more.
Consider, for example, shares of Dell Technologies (DELL), which traded at $595 on Oct. 8, 2026, and less than a month later on Thursday, Nov. 5, were at $319, when we initiated a long position.
We are finding plenty of emerging value opportunities outside of technology. As an example, we initiated a long in “best of class” Morgan Stanley (MS) Thursday at $181 compared to its share price of $235 less than four months ago.
We have other examples developing that we will share in the future.
No Longer a Cassandra
My hedge fund, Seabreeze Partners, is a long/short fund and not a short or short-biased fund.
I recognize that I have sounded Cassandra-like in my bearish views but, as mentioned, many of our concerns were valid and on target. Specifically, interest rates rose rapidly (absolutely and relative to expectations), inflation was sticky, economic growth was disappointing, improvisational policy led to an unwanted war and the efficacy and profitability of AI is now suspect.
We have often written that being long stocks can generate wealth and being short stocks (and/or having large cash reserves) can help to preserve capital.
Until recently, most stocks failed to meet our standards for investing. This is changing rapidly — as Thursday the major indexes each fell by about 5%.
The concerns expressed above have largely been accepted by most investors and some have begun to be discounted (“second level thinking”) in an increasingly greater number of stocks.
Importantly, some of the major concerns (discussed above) are likely too moderate:
* While the cumulative or “stacked” inflation since 2021 remains problematic, we now see signposts (e.g. lower energy prices) that inflation will moderate relative to consensus expectations
* If inflation does retreat, the domestic economy (fueled by the consumer) may exhibit better growth than we previously expected
* Interest rates may have peaked for the cycle
* The current administration’s potential impovisational policies are likely to be diluted by the stronger-than-expected showing of the Democratic Party in this week’s elections and the president’s “lame duck” status
* Tuesday’s Blue Wave likely means that the AI capital spending spree will probably be moderated — reducing our fears and smoothing the AI capital spending cycle (serving to reduce the chance of a boom-and-bust cycle)
* Equity valuations in a number of sectors (particularly technology) have declined considerably as “fear” and panic have replaced greed
* With the rise in “fear” and heavy (recent) trading and investment losses, there has been a diminished interest in 0DTE call options and leveraged ETFs are suffering from outflows — moreover, several large hedge funds have apparently been forced to liquidate (and have contributed to this week’s sharp market decline)
We Have Begun Buying Stocks That Now Meet Our Selection Standards
That is not to say we are wildly or even mildly bullish — we are not.
As an expression of the increased investment opportunities that appear to be emerging, however, I have moved from a small net short exposure to a 20% net long exposure by Thursday’s close of trading.
Should the current decline in stocks accelerate we are likely to increase our invested position if the fundamentals and other factors continue to stabilize or improve.
We welcome the chance to return to “the land of the living” and buying equities — with our current intention of buying and holding… and not trading.
To paraphrase Warren Buffett:
It may be time to consider being greedy when others are panicking and are feeling fearful.
We are, as we now see emerging value in selected equities that have been decimated over the last three or four months.
At the time of publication, Kass was long DELL (M), MS (M)
