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Aswath Damodaran Says "There’s No Place to Hide in Stocks" | Prof G Markets

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Aswath Damodaran Says "There’s No Place to Hide in Stocks" | Prof G Markets

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1779 segments

0:00

Today's number 60. That's the percentage

0:02

of Americans who say they've had a

0:03

paranormal experience. I was invited to

0:06

go see a porn horror film. But Ed, I was

0:11

too scared to come.

0:14

[Music]

0:20

>> Oh, Ed. Ed, you don't use ED drugs yet,

0:22

do you?

0:24

>> Not yet.

0:25

>> Oh my gosh. Got a lot of that in your

0:27

future. Just a heads up. Just a heads

0:30

up. It's coming, my friend.

0:32

>> I can't wait. You were about to hit me

0:34

with a by the way. Was that your by the

0:35

way?

0:36

>> Speaking of uh erectile dysfunction

0:38

drugs.

0:38

>> Here it is.

0:39

>> Uh do you hear that Governor Nuome gave

0:41

me a name checked me and said that I was

0:43

a rock star when speaking to Jake

0:45

Tapper?

0:46

>> Did he? Wow. I know I know he's name

0:48

checked you before. That has happened.

0:52

Um but I didn't know he called you a

0:54

rockstar. What was the context? He said

0:57

that I'm I'm his fashion and aesthetics

0:59

and fitness uh role model.

1:01

>> Did he actually say that?

1:02

>> Dude, have you met me? Have you met me?

1:05

>> No. You know, the whole young man thing.

1:07

>> I am squeezing that lemon like there's

1:09

no tomorrow.

1:12

>> Well, that's pretty good cuz I think

1:14

he's going to be president.

1:15

>> Why do you say that?

1:16

>> He's the rock star. As we discussed with

1:18

with Bradley Tusk, there are three rock

1:21

stars. Actually, four rock stars.

1:22

There's Mandani, there's AOC, there's

1:25

Bernie Sanders, and there's Gavin

1:27

Newsome. Gavin Newsome is the only one

1:29

who could be president.

1:30

>> You mean he's the only one that's not

1:31

crazy? Um, actually, I don't

1:33

think Bernie's crazy. I love AOC, too. I

1:36

got so angry at this shutdown. I

1:37

committed on stage last night to giving

1:39

$100,000 to the to the AOC for Senate

1:43

campaign if she announced she was

1:44

primary Schumer in the next seven days.

1:47

I am so Anyway, we're not supposed to

1:48

talk about politics. Advertisers hate

1:50

politics. Tell us about the live tour.

1:53

You You're on tour for the show for for

1:55

the other show, the show that shall not

1:57

be named.

1:57

>> Pivot Live. Started in Toronto on

1:59

Saturday. Then we did Boston on Sunday

2:01

and we did New York last night. And

2:03

after this, I'm about to bomb on the

2:05

train to DC. Do DC tonight. Then after

2:08

the show, head to Chicago where we do a

2:11

show um tomorrow.

2:13

>> It's a lot of shows. Are you switching

2:14

up the content for each show? I mean,

2:17

every day. That's pretty intense. trying

2:19

trying different lesbian marriage jokes.

2:21

So,

2:23

straight people get married for kids,

2:25

gays for aesthetics,

2:27

and lesbians for that mid-century couch

2:31

on Pinterest. And then when they get

2:33

divorced, uh there's an argument over

2:36

who gets the couch in the Subaru. And

2:37

the way they decide is whoever's name is

2:39

on the REI loyalty card.

2:42

I told that last night. I told that last

2:45

night. Yeah.

2:46

>> It got a good response.

2:47

>> Yeah. you know,

2:50

u people look at each other like, is it

2:52

okay to laugh? And then Cara laughs. One

2:54

of the things I love about doing a

2:55

podcast with Cara is that she gives

2:57

everyone permission to laugh.

2:59

>> I also saw that a 10-year-old was there

3:02

and asked you a question about um about

3:05

dating. I thought that was kind of

3:06

sweet. I didn't realize that there were

3:08

10-year-old fans of Pivot.

3:09

>> Okay, hold on. Boston so far has taken

3:11

the crown in Q&A. And we don't prepare

3:13

for this. We don't plant the questions.

3:15

People just line up at the mic. This one

3:17

dude comes up and goes, "I have a

3:19

question for Cara." And he goes,

3:20

"Actually, I mean Sarah." And he turns

3:22

around and gets on his his knee and he

3:24

proposed marriage.

3:25

>> Wow.

3:26

>> Yeah. So, my love language is money. So,

3:29

I just reached into my pocket and took

3:30

out all my money and gave it to them.

3:32

And then the most adorable 10-year-old

3:35

kid, I mean, this kid's out of central

3:36

casting, right? He just such a So,

3:40

anyways, very just this lovely young man

3:44

asked he said so cute. She said, "I

3:47

really like this girl and she's taller

3:50

than me and I don't know how to approach

3:52

her." And Cara busted into the, you

3:55

know, the whole like, "Be kind, da da

3:57

da." And I'm like, "Have your parents

3:58

throw a kick-ass party. That's how you

4:00

increase social capital when you're in

4:01

school. If you have the coolest party,

4:03

you become

4:04

>> partially good advice.

4:05

>> You become the cool kid in school.

4:06

Everyone wants to come to your party."

4:08

And I said, "Also, learn how to dance or

4:11

more importantly, just always dance like

4:13

no one's watching." I mean, the ladies

4:15

love a man who can move, but even more,

4:18

they love a man who can move and isn't

4:20

self-conscious about it. I think that's

4:22

true.

4:22

>> Yeah, I think that's good advice. I like

4:24

that.

4:24

>> Are you a good dancer, Ed?

4:26

>> I I think I get by. I think I I don't

4:28

look

4:29

super awkward if I'm doing it, which I

4:32

think is a win. I think that means I'm

4:33

I'm I'm good enough.

4:34

>> I love what Richard Reeves says. He says

4:36

that you want a man who is invaluable in

4:38

a shipwreck and acceptable at a dance. I

4:41

am I am not a good dancer. I'm not a

4:44

good dancer. It my dancing ability is

4:47

entirely correlated to how much I've how

4:49

much I've drank.

4:50

>> Oh yes, for sure.

4:51

>> But what I try to do is I try to dance

4:53

as if I'm the people you think are good

4:56

dancers. With women, they have to be

4:57

good dancers. With men, they just have

4:59

to look like they're enjoying it.

5:00

>> Yes, that's right.

5:01

>> And then people admire them. And I think

5:03

a decent metaphor for how to live your

5:05

life is occasionally if you're at some

5:08

one of those douchy overpriced vacation

5:10

spots that you you you uh go to, you'll

5:14

see someone really hot get up on the

5:16

table in the middle of lunch and start

5:18

dancing. And we're all just captivated

5:19

by this person. And not only because

5:22

they typically are, you know, a woman

5:24

brought by some Russian oligarch who

5:26

tends to be quite attractive, but

5:28

because they look as if they don't care

5:30

that anyone's watching them. And we're

5:33

so drawn to people who have the

5:34

confidence to sort of just dance out

5:36

loud that I think that it's a decent

5:38

metaphor that the real winners in our

5:40

society that we're just really drawn to

5:42

kind of live out loud and they don't

5:44

really care. They risk embarrassment.

5:47

They don't care. They're just kind of

5:48

willing to like dance on tables and live

5:50

their lives out loud.

5:51

>> This has nothing to do with today's

5:53

episode, Ed.

5:54

>> It's good. It's valuable philosophical

5:56

advice. That's what people are here for.

5:59

So, my final question before we get into

6:00

this conversation that I'm super excited

6:02

about with Ask West Motor. What have

6:04

been your your takeaways from Pivot

6:07

Live? like are you surprised or any

6:10

takeaways from like who's coming to

6:12

these events, what the energy is, what

6:15

they're looking for, how it differs from

6:18

say this show, like what are your what

6:21

are your halftime

6:23

um takeaways with this live tour? I have

6:25

a tendency to just be down and see

6:28

everything through, you know, kind of

6:30

gray colored glasses. And it just for

6:34

me, the events have been so nice and the

6:36

crowds have been, it just reinforces the

6:40

notion I need to get out more because

6:42

people in the real world are just so

6:45

lovely and so much fun. And I am

6:48

extremely online and online is extremely

6:52

depressing and angry. And then

6:54

you go to a theater in Brooklyn with

6:57

people who've decided to take their, you

6:59

know, their Tuesday night or their

7:01

Monday night, I don't even know where we

7:02

are. Um, and come out to Brooklyn and be

7:07

with other people and laugh and clap and

7:11

meet other people and everyone stayed

7:12

after. It's just again, it goes back to

7:15

this basic notion. I wish there was a

7:16

way to input into the code of AI that we

7:20

need to extrapolate the data it's

7:22

crawling to the real world because the

7:24

real world is actually really lovely or

7:26

at least I find it is in America and I

7:28

realize people face a lot of challenges

7:30

but I find that humanto human mammal to

7:33

mammal interactions

7:34

are generally speaking just so much

7:36

tangibly more kind gentle funny

7:39

interesting than the digitto digits

7:42

interactions we have online.

7:45

So, it's been lovely. I'm excited. We're

7:47

going to do a tour and I think my

7:49

understanding is people are we've

7:51

decided that whatever cities get the

7:52

most suggestions, we're going to.

7:54

>> We also need to go to London cuz I need

7:56

to go home.

7:57

>> You need to go home. Do you consider

7:59

that your home?

8:00

>> Yeah. Where I grew up, where my family

8:02

is. Uh, so we need to do that.

8:05

>> Okay. Other than that,

8:06

>> cuz and it's all about me, really. It's

8:08

about me getting home and having a nice

8:10

time with my family. That's what this is

8:11

this live tour is going to be about.

8:13

>> Be nice to have your parents there. Um,

8:15

>> true.

8:15

>> Yeah, we'll do London. So, I think we

8:17

start I think we figured out our first

8:19

city. Our first or our last city is

8:20

going to be London.

8:21

>> All right. Should we get into our

8:22

conversation with Asworth?

8:24

>> Let's do it.

8:24

>> Here's our conversation with Professor

8:26

Asworth Demoder and the Kersner family

8:28

chair in finance education and professor

8:30

of finance at NYU's Stern School of

8:33

Business. Professor Demodin, thank you

8:35

very much for joining us again on Profy

8:37

Markets.

8:38

>> Thank you for having me.

8:40

I've been very excited to talk with you

8:42

uh especially right now and I want to

8:45

start with AI and this AI bubble that

8:49

everyone's talking about. Um it is kind

8:52

of conventional wisdom at this point or

8:55

it appears to be conventional wisdom

8:56

that we are in some form of a bubble.

8:59

I'm just going to read you some of the

9:00

headlines that I read today. Quote, Bill

9:04

Gates says we're in an AI bubble similar

9:06

to the dot bubble. quote, "Michael Bur

9:09

doubles down on AI bubble claims." Uh,

9:13

this was a great one in Vogue. Quote,

9:15

"Is fashion ready for the AI bubble to

9:18

burst?" So, what is fascinating to me,

9:22

we've been talking a lot about are we in

9:23

a bubble, are we not in a bubble? What

9:24

is fascinating to me is that everyone

9:26

seems to believe we are in a bubble. Uh,

9:29

people in tech, people in media, even

9:31

people in the fashion world know what's

9:33

happening here. Uh, I'll put the

9:36

question to you. Are we in a bubble?

9:40

>> Other than Michael Bur, the rest of the

9:43

talk is just talk, right? I mean, it's

9:45

easy to talk about bubbles when there's

9:46

no money behind it. At least Michael's

9:48

putting his his money behind what he

9:50

said. No, but let's play the lawyerly

9:53

game, which is, you know, how you can

9:54

stipulate something and then let's

9:56

stipulate this above. So what? Why are

9:59

we so I mean, why all this hand ringing?

10:02

Why? I mean, what exactly are we

10:04

accomplishing

10:06

by spending so much time talking about

10:09

this bubble? So, what if there's a

10:10

bubble?

10:11

>> Markets are are cyclical, right? And

10:13

they get oversold and overbought. That's

10:15

just a natural part of the cycle and it

10:17

creates opportunities and we learn

10:18

lessons from it. Uh so, yeah, it's not a

10:21

Greek tragedy. The fear I think with

10:24

this is that now that you have 40%

10:27

resting in 10 companies and then when

10:30

the S&P represents 20% of total global

10:33

market cap that our market has become

10:36

unhealthy and fragile and that if this

10:40

bubble bursts it's going to be a pop

10:41

herd around the world that it could take

10:43

down the entire global economy is is I I

10:46

think the straw man argument for why are

10:48

we perhaps uh why is it more justified

10:52

to be a little bit more worried about

10:53

this pop.

10:54

>> Even if this is

10:56

whether or not this is worse or the same

10:58

as previous bubbles, the reality is I've

11:01

got my money in my retirement account. I

11:05

don't want the number to go down. That's

11:07

another reason. I'll tell you who's

11:08

going to be hurt. Two groups of people.

11:10

One are the people who've joined the

11:12

market in the last year, the LA last

11:14

couple of years. Basically, you're

11:15

getting in to the bubble as it's

11:18

peaking. The other is people who chase

11:21

bubbles after they've happened, right?

11:23

People who move their money out of

11:25

industrials

11:27

into invidia and pallet in the last year

11:29

or two. There are two groups of people

11:30

are going to burn. And I think it's

11:32

worth focusing on that because investors

11:34

who've been in the market for the long

11:37

term have benefited from the upside. And

11:39

even if there's a correction, I think

11:42

many of them will look at what they have

11:44

and relative to what they had in 2015

11:46

said, "Look, I'm still better off. I'm

11:48

still I've still earned a 7% return. I

11:50

think the economic effects that Scott is

11:53

talking about are much more a much more

11:56

of an issue.

11:58

much of the growth in the real economy

12:00

this year has come from the capex going

12:03

into these data centers and AI and

12:05

taking it out will effectively mean that

12:08

we've actually been in a recession that

12:09

without it we would have been in a

12:11

recession and that might be much more of

12:14

an issue that with this bubble than it

12:17

even was with the dotcom bubble because

12:19

so much more of the real economy the

12:22

dotcom bubble if you think about the

12:23

infrastructure spending for the dotcom

12:25

bubble was a fraction

12:27

of the infrastructure spending that has

12:29

gone into the AI phenomenon. Let's not

12:32

call it a bubble yet because we don't

12:33

know it. So there is that question what

12:36

happens if those hundreds of billions of

12:38

dollars and that I think is there will

12:41

be clearly an economic effect. I don't

12:44

think it'll show up in terms of jobs

12:46

lost because it's not as if these

12:48

investments have created a lot of new

12:49

jobs. That's the other thing about this

12:51

AI infrastructure investment is it's a

12:54

money that's been spent in physical

12:56

stuff and chips rather than hiring tens

12:58

of thousands of people. So that's worth

13:01

thinking about a real economic damage

13:04

but not with hundreds tens of thousands

13:06

of jobs lost but in terms of people

13:08

looking at their portfolio saying I feel

13:11

worse off than I did a year ago. I might

13:14

be better off than seven years ago but

13:16

I've lost a lot of what I thought I did.

13:18

So I'm not underestimating the effect of

13:21

this happening but I would argue that

13:23

this is a feature not a bug of any big

13:26

change in economy. I've talked before

13:28

about what I call the big market

13:30

delusion. If I have it here's how it

13:33

plays out. You have a big change coming

13:35

to markets. It creates essentially pods

13:39

of people who think that they can

13:41

essentially benefit from it. So think

13:42

about a thousand AI pods where say this

13:46

is going to be big. I'm going to take

13:47

advantage of it. And because these pods

13:50

are created by overconfident people who

13:52

are fed by overconfident venture

13:54

capitalists, it's almost by definition

13:56

there's going to be a bubble every time

13:58

you have a big structural change in

14:00

markets. It happened with PCs. It

14:02

happened with uh you know with obviously

14:05

it happened to a lesser extent but it

14:07

did happen with social media and it's

14:09

now happening with AI perhaps on

14:10

steroids because the magnitude of the

14:12

change that's coming. But I think that

14:15

this is part and parcel of change. There

14:17

will be a correction. There will be

14:19

people who are hurt. The economy will be

14:21

hurt. But there will be change that

14:22

comes out of it. It almost is a cycle

14:25

that repeats itself. And this won't be

14:27

the last time this happens. Once you do

14:29

this, people say, "I've learned my

14:30

lesson. I will never do this again." And

14:33

guess what? 20 years later, there will

14:35

be a different bubble with a different

14:36

acronym or a different buzzword, a

14:39

different change driving it. It's the

14:41

way human, you know, change in human

14:44

beings occurs. We overreach, we correct

14:47

and we overreach again and correct

14:48

again. So to me, it does doesn't

14:50

surprise me that there's an AI bubble.

14:52

And the reason I would be wary about

14:55

trying to make money off the bubble

14:57

because there are people saying if it's

14:58

a bubble and it's going to burst, why

15:00

can't I do the Michael Bur thing and

15:02

sell short? Is you need a catalyst.

15:04

>> Yes.

15:05

>> And with AI, it's tough to see what that

15:08

catalyst will be, right? It's not like

15:10

you have a day of reckoning and you say

15:12

there aren't enough AI products and

15:13

services. I'm going to correct that

15:15

catalyst is going to be fuzzy. It's

15:17

going to be difficult to kind of put

15:19

together. And that's why I agree with

15:21

Michael Bur that that AI stocks are

15:25

collectively overvalued. We can we

15:27

whether you call it a bubble or not, but

15:29

I'm not ready to come to the conclusion

15:32

that they're overpriced because

15:34

overpricing means that there's a

15:35

catalyst, a demand supply chain that's

15:37

going to cause the pricing to move back

15:40

down. So you can believe that AI is

15:41

overvalued, but the market is pricing AI

15:45

and it doesn't seem to be as concerned.

15:47

And until there's a catalyst that causes

15:49

the two to converge, you can believe

15:51

there's a bubble, but not much you can

15:52

do about it. I want to dig into this

15:55

catalyst concept because we discussed

15:57

this um on our on our Monday episode. Um

16:02

I totally agree. You need a moment. You

16:04

need a shock. You need some sort of

16:06

event catalyst to catalyze the

16:09

correction. If I had to make any bets on

16:12

what the catalyst would be, I made the

16:15

bet in our previous episode. It would be

16:18

the implosion of open AI because of the

16:21

amount of spending that we've seen or

16:23

the amount of promised spending uh that

16:26

they've talked about that Sam Alman has

16:27

talked about $1.5 trillion in spending

16:30

and the fact that they are only

16:32

generating $13 billion in ARR. So how

16:35

are they going to pay for it? And the

16:37

big tell for me at least and I think for

16:40

many was this moment last week where Sam

16:43

Alman was asked the question on a

16:45

podcast, how are you going to pay for

16:48

it? And he had this incredible defensive

16:51

reaction and we actually have that clip

16:53

and I'd like to get your reaction to it.

16:54

So let's just play that clip.

16:56

>> How, you know, how can a company with 13

16:57

billion in revenues make 1.4 trillion of

17:02

spend commitments? And you've heard the

17:04

criticism, Sam. Well, we're doing well

17:06

more revenue than that. Second of all,

17:08

Brad, if you want to sell your shares,

17:09

I'll find you a buyer.

17:11

I just enough like, you know, people are

17:15

I think there's a lot of people who

17:16

would love to buy OpenAI shares. I don't

17:18

I don't think you want,

17:19

>> including myself.

17:20

>> Including myself

17:22

>> who talk with a lot of like breathless

17:24

concern about our comput stuff or

17:25

whatever that would be thrilled to buy

17:27

shares. So I think we could sell, you

17:29

know, your shares or anybody else's to

17:30

some of the people who are making the

17:32

most noise on Twitter, whatever about

17:33

this very quickly.

17:34

>> Incredibly defensive reaction, which

17:36

leads us to believe perhaps that's going

17:39

to be the catalyst. What is your

17:40

reaction?

17:41

>> It's not just defensive. There's no

17:44

business argument in there, right?

17:45

There's I mean, you run a business. I

17:47

want to hear your business rationale for

17:49

why small revenues will become big

17:51

revenues and you're going to be able to

17:53

make profits on those revenues. He

17:56

doesn't even try that. I mean it's and

17:59

you may very well be right open AI might

18:01

be the trigger. The only problem is that

18:03

the money flowing into open AI is I mean

18:06

today I heard that you know the that

18:08

soft bank is pulling

18:11

its money out of Nvidia but it's putting

18:14

into open AI it's it's buying in. I

18:17

think unfortunately there are a lot of

18:20

people with deep pockets who will keep

18:22

open AI going.

18:25

So even when you get those

18:26

disappointments, revenues not going up,

18:27

they'll find rational excuses.

18:30

I I think it's going to be a corporate

18:32

governance issue at OpenAI. In addition

18:34

to not having business sense, they have

18:37

a person at the top that at this point

18:38

in time has complete power over where

18:41

this enterprise is going. If we don't

18:43

know how to build a business, it's not

18:45

going to build itself. So that might be

18:48

the catalyst but that catalyst could

18:50

take three or four years to play out

18:52

because there are enough delusional

18:53

people supplying capital who will keep

18:56

supplying capital because you know it'll

18:59

take a lot of reckoning before they say

19:01

okay this isn't working. So, but I think

19:04

he, you know, Sam should probably stay

19:06

away from microphones because this might

19:09

speed up the process if you realize the

19:11

person you handed tens of billions to

19:13

doesn't know how to build a basic

19:15

business.

19:16

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[Music]

20:33

We're back with Profy Markets.

20:35

>> So as I just want to put forward a

20:37

thesis and something we've been talking

20:38

about and have you nullify or validate

20:40

it. But when I look at these valuations

20:43

kind of baked into these valuations are

20:45

either massive incremental revenues from

20:48

new products as a as a function of these

20:50

chips and LLMs or efficiencies. And all

20:55

I see in terms of an ROI in this

20:57

unprecedented investment so far is the

20:59

latter. And that is I don't see a lot of

21:01

moisturizers from L'Oreal or cars from

21:03

GM that were sort of AI inspired. What I

21:05

do see, and it's real, is companies

21:07

saying we're going to cut our legal fees

21:09

by 30 or 50 million using AI.

21:13

But in order to justify these

21:15

valuations,

21:16

it strikes me that the level of quote

21:19

unquote efficiencies, which is Latin for

21:21

layoffs, is going to be pretty

21:22

extraordinary.

21:24

And if you look at if you assume that

21:27

150 million jobs in the US, fewer people

21:30

work than people think. And if you

21:31

assume half those jobs are somewhat

21:33

immune to AI, you know, you're a

21:35

masseuse or a pipe fitter. So assume 75

21:39

million jobs are somewhat vulnerable. I

21:42

see one of two things in the next 12

21:44

months. Either there is pretty serious

21:47

chaos in the labor markets across some

21:50

industries that are vulnerable or the

21:53

magnificent seven these companies get

21:55

cut in half. It just feels like one of

21:57

those two things has to happen. Your

22:00

thoughts?

22:00

>> The weakest link in the argument is a

22:03

product and service market. the

22:04

architecture people have spent immense

22:06

amounts on even the open AI the the

22:10

other players in the middle of the game

22:11

you know going to provide the software

22:14

you that's been built up there is very

22:16

little evidence right now that you're

22:18

able to even the companies that are

22:20

talking about cost cutting you look at

22:22

the actual amount of costs that have

22:24

been cut you look at the expenses across

22:25

periods you don't see a massive drop off

22:27

in expenses so right now the product and

22:31

service market is all talk And my belief

22:34

is the consumer side of that market is

22:37

not going to be particularly lucrative.

22:39

I look at the kinds of things I get as a

22:41

consumer from AI and I say that's neat

22:43

but I'm not paying $10 a month for that.

22:47

The businessto business AI there are

22:49

segments but only in the highowered

22:51

segments where the the coming together

22:53

of large data and and computing power is

22:56

going to make a difference. I don't

22:58

think open AI is going to make u you

23:00

know equity research better or portfolio

23:03

managers perform better. So in those

23:05

areas I don't see the net plus that

23:07

comes out of it. I can see the minus of

23:09

people being laid off but right now it's

23:12

still more talk than actual action. So I

23:15

believe it when I see fidelity layoff

23:17

half their analysts saying we replace

23:19

them with AI. No either way it's not

23:22

good news because they replace them with

23:23

AI. Those are people who will not have

23:24

jobs. they don't replace him with AI.

23:27

All this investment in AI has no real

23:30

easy way to pay off. So I agree with

23:32

your broader thesis. I'm not sure though

23:34

it'll happen in the next 12 months. This

23:37

is the problem with these open-ended

23:39

it's still developing is we cut so much

23:42

slack to companies and they'll find a

23:44

way to explain away why it didn't happen

23:46

in 12 months and there will be enough

23:49

people who buy into that explanation. So

23:52

I think something else has to come in in

23:56

addition to the numbers not coming in

23:57

for that recognition to say hey guys

23:59

we've overshot but I think you're right

24:02

you know I don't see I'll give you a

24:04

rough estimate given even what's already

24:07

been spent on the AI architecture the AI

24:10

products and services market has to

24:13

generate about $4 trillion

24:16

in revenues either in save cost or or

24:18

additional revenues

24:20

>> 4 trillion

24:21

>> 4 trillion

24:22

It's so basically take the architecture

24:24

investment and multiply by even with the

24:26

high margins you need to get 4 trillion

24:28

and from that because remember you got

24:30

to pay for that investment earn a

24:32

reasonable return so you back into it.

24:34

So four trill and right now it's it's

24:36

it's in the tens of billions

24:40

and you're looking at a $4 trillion

24:41

target and I'm looking at how do we make

24:44

up that difference and I don't see a way

24:46

we get there you know I don't see how

24:48

you increase revenues by that much with

24:51

just AI products and service or cut cost

24:53

by that much you're right something has

24:55

to give I'm just not sure when that

24:58

moment of recognition will be when you

25:00

start to adjust numbers down and it's

25:03

not all of the X7, right? I mean, it's,

25:05

let's face it, it's Meta,

25:07

Microsoft, those are big players.

25:10

Perhaps Alpha, but Amazon, there's still

25:14

much less of its value coming from AI.

25:16

Apple, I think, you know, much less. So,

25:18

I think it's going to be a kind of a

25:20

disjointed effect even across the Mac 7.

25:23

But I do think that there will be an

25:25

adjustment. I'm just not sure when. And

25:26

that's why I can't be on Michael Bur's

25:28

bandwagon saying, "Let's sell short

25:29

because there your time horizon is set

25:31

by somebody else.

25:33

and that's not a place I want to be. So

25:37

I I agree it's overvalued, but I'm not

25:40

comfortable enough to make the judgment

25:41

that it's overpriced enough to go out

25:43

and make a bet on the price correcting

25:46

in the next 6 months or the next 12

25:47

months.

25:48

>> So across the Magnificent 10 and it's

25:50

grown to 10 now because it it it the

25:52

numbers get more dramatic when you when

25:54

you when you bake in three more not

25:57

overvalued but fully valued companies.

25:58

But let's list them out. Nvidia, Apple,

26:01

Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta,

26:03

Tesla, Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom

26:05

and Palunteer, which now

26:08

which now make up 40% of the S&P by

26:10

total market cap. So you got the S&P

26:13

490 or 60% of the value and the S&P 10,

26:16

if you will, or the magnificent 10 or

26:18

40%. Amongst those 10, have you done any

26:21

analysis and are you comfortable saying

26:23

which you think are most overvalued or

26:25

most fairly valued? I'm going to go out

26:26

on a limb here and say there aren't

26:28

that. It'd be difficult to find one

26:29

that's undervalued.

26:30

>> There's nothing cheap. Yeah,

26:31

>> nothing cheap. What looks most

26:33

irrational, if you will.

26:34

>> I think Nvidia, I mean, five trillion, I

26:37

mean, as I said, it's it's an amazing

26:39

company, but at 5 trillion, you're

26:40

looking at uh the greatest company ever,

26:43

delivering 80% gross margins in

26:46

perpetuity on revenues that are going to

26:47

be a trillion dollars or more. And none

26:50

of those things hold up to any kind of

26:52

scrutiny. So from a pure over Tesla I

26:55

would put into that same grouping for a

26:58

different reason. I'm not even sure what

26:59

Tesla is as a company anymore. I reached

27:01

a point of I can't tell you what the

27:02

story is because I'm not sure Tesla

27:05

knows what the story is going forward.

27:08

So I think if I were to build a

27:10

portfolio around it, those would be the

27:12

two companies that take out the first.

27:14

And I'd probably leave Alphabet and

27:16

Amazon in there as my two mag seven

27:18

companies that are least overvalued

27:20

because you know Alphabet has had to

27:23

struggle more in the during this year

27:25

doesn't have that AI boom to it that the

27:28

other stocks have and Amazon I think

27:30

will find ways to make money which don't

27:33

require AI at all. So I think they might

27:35

be one of those companies which actually

27:37

is able to convert the promise of AI

27:39

into lower costs. It'll be brutal in

27:42

terms of the people hired at Amazon, but

27:44

there will be ways I think they can

27:46

convert the pro, you know, but I think

27:49

that to the extent that there's going to

27:51

be a correction, there's no place to

27:52

hide in stocks. I I can't see a way

27:55

because if the mag 10 go down by 40%.

27:59

It's not like the industrials are going

28:00

to hold their value while this happens,

28:02

the panic that that's going to create is

28:04

going to ripple through stocks. And I

28:06

think there's a good reason why gold is

28:08

hitting all-time highs. At the same

28:10

time, that's that's unusual because

28:12

usually when gold goes up, it's in the

28:13

context of a crisis where markets are

28:15

collapsing or with hyperinflation. The

28:18

there's I think you know I describe gold

28:20

as a niche market which in good times

28:23

when times are solid. That niche market

28:25

is composed of paranoid people and

28:28

doomsday fanatics.

28:31

But in other times it expands to bring

28:34

in people who normally invest in stocks

28:36

and bonds. I think the gold market is

28:38

attracting people who historically would

28:40

have been financial asset investors but

28:43

are scared enough now of a bubble not

28:45

just in AI but across stocks and across

28:48

financial assets that they're willing to

28:50

leave their money in something that

28:52

doesn't pay a coupon or cash flows.

28:54

That's the only way I can explain a gold

28:57

price rising in a year when stocks are

28:59

up 15 20% and you know financial assets

29:03

seem to be doing well. Interest rates

29:04

are not going up. Inflation at least in

29:06

posted numbers doesn't look like it's

29:08

taking off. There's enough of a subset

29:11

of the market that's saying I don't

29:12

believe these numbers. Something bad is

29:14

coming. And that's pushing up the price

29:17

of gold. So there's a message there for

29:19

investors. And if you're an investor

29:21

primarily invest in stocks and bonds, my

29:23

advice is even though historically you

29:26

might never have invested in

29:28

non-financial asset categories, this

29:30

might be a time where you think about,

29:32

you know, kind of at least moving a

29:34

portion of your portfolio know bigger

29:37

chunk than ever into cash or something

29:39

close to cash or maybe even

29:41

collectibles, things that I I've never

29:43

owned collectibles, but you know, for

29:45

the first time in my investing history,

29:48

I'm saying maybe I should hold something

29:51

that is not going to be effective.

29:52

Inflation goes to 10%, there's a market

29:55

and economic crisis that is catast

29:58

potentially catastrophic because that's

30:00

not being priced in by markets right now

30:02

and you know the chance of it happening

30:06

is perhaps greater than it's been in any

30:08

time the last 20 years.

30:09

>> I was shocked that at the top of your

30:11

list of companies most of valued in

30:13

those 10 wasn't Palunteer at 120 times

30:17

sales. I was counting them in the mag

30:19

seven. You know, obviously when you add

30:21

palente to the mix, you know, you add

30:23

now I I haven't done a recent my last

30:26

valuation of palenteer was almost a year

30:28

ago when the market cap is much smaller.

30:31

Obviously, the story's changed,

30:33

company's market cap has changed. I

30:35

haven't valued my palenteer recently.

30:37

So, it might very well be competing with

30:39

Nvidia at the top. And maybe that's the

30:41

reason Michael Bur's picked Palenter as

30:43

his other choice is, you know, where's

30:45

where's the number coming from? So, but

30:48

I apologize. I was focusing on the Mag

30:50

7, but you were talking about the Mag 10

30:52

there. So,

30:52

>> so just asking for a friend if someone

30:55

is thinking that not collectibles, but

30:58

something that might be more inflation

31:00

resistant. How do you feel about real

31:02

estate right now as an investment?

31:04

>> Rental properties more than traditional

31:06

real estate. I think that that's income

31:08

stream. So, you know, to the So, again,

31:10

it depends on where you buy the real

31:11

estate. I live in San Diego. That bubble

31:14

you see in stocks and bonds is playing

31:15

out in housing, right? because people

31:17

are feeling wealthy because their

31:18

portfolio is up 30%, they're going out

31:21

and buying a house reflecting that

31:23

portfol

31:25

or let's put quotes around the bubble in

31:27

AI or stocks is spilling over into the

31:30

consumption and buying habits of the

31:33

people who have a lot of money in the

31:34

market which is one reason if you look

31:37

at the economy it's the the top 10 20%

31:40

in terms of wealth that's driving a lot

31:43

of the energy the economy is they're

31:45

feeling rich because their portfolios

31:47

look bad, right? And that's, you know,

31:49

that's determining what house they buy.

31:51

But if you're in real estate, I think

31:53

you got to be selective. It might not be

31:55

buying a house in the city you live in.

31:58

It might be buying a rental property in

32:00

some other part of the country that's

32:01

not hot or you get enough rental income

32:04

that it covers what you'd have made

32:05

investing in a T- bond, but you have

32:07

something physical real you've invested

32:09

in. So again, something I've never

32:11

invested in the past, but something I'm

32:14

more likely to look at now than I would

32:16

have 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years

32:18

ago.

32:18

>> I'm kind of amazed by almost how bearish

32:21

you sound. And just go over what you

32:23

said here. So one, um, there is a

32:27

bubble, an AI bubble. Two, there is no

32:30

place to hide in the stock market. And

32:34

three, for the first time you said ever,

32:38

you are looking at parking your money

32:40

into one cash and two collectibles

32:45

>> or physical assets which pay

32:47

>> that to me is a very striking statement.

32:50

I actually didn't expect that um from

32:53

you. uh what is different right now than

32:57

say 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years

33:01

ago. The fact that this is the first

33:03

time you're considering it in your time

33:05

as an investor and as a legendary

33:08

investor and educator, what's different?

33:11

Right now,

33:12

>> we live in a world where everything

33:13

seems to be correlated, right? I mean,

33:15

it used to be even 10, 20 years ago, I

33:17

said, I'm going to put my money in

33:19

European stocks or Asian stocks or Latin

33:22

American stocks. You know, if I thought

33:25

US stocks were overvalued or I'm going

33:26

to move my money out of this sector into

33:28

this one because utilities tend not to

33:30

go down as much during the crisis than

33:33

technology companies. You know, one of

33:35

the problems and maybe you can lay

33:37

passive investing for this and the flow

33:38

of money is the correlations across

33:41

asset classes, across sectors, across

33:44

geographies has risen to the point where

33:48

know that classic rule of if you spread

33:51

your money across multiple geographies,

33:53

multiple sectors, you're going to be

33:55

more protected. that advice is not

33:58

holding up anymore because of the corate

34:02

because the markets seem to be moving so

34:05

much more. So you almost have to

34:07

struggle to find something that doesn't

34:10

move with markets where you didn't have

34:12

to do that 10 or 20 years ago. Now part

34:15

of this might be globalization. Part of

34:17

it might be the way in which people

34:19

invest through funds and through large

34:22

large index funds that move their money

34:24

to wherever the largest market cap is.

34:27

But it does make investing a lot more

34:29

dangerous because you know I can't tell

34:32

you as I said know people call me all

34:34

the time I feel worried where should I

34:35

put my money 20 years ago the kind of

34:37

advice I'd have given them if you can

34:39

stay in the stock market but try to

34:41

shift your money out of this sector into

34:42

this one you're going to be more

34:44

protected. I don't feel as inclined to

34:46

give that advice anymore because I don't

34:48

see that protection playing out as much.

34:52

>> So, you're assuming that there's going

34:53

to be some very very large, I assume,

34:57

correction in in the stock market.

34:59

>> It could be a large correction or a long

35:03

and painful correction, right? You could

35:05

have a 35% drop in the market over a

35:07

couple of weeks or you could have a

35:09

market that stretches out doing nothing

35:12

down six or 7% a year for three or four

35:14

or five years. Right? This is 1970s much

35:17

you know. So it either way you're hurt.

35:21

The second is an easier way for you to

35:24

kind of at least manage the decline. The

35:27

first is a shock. I'm not sure which

35:29

one's better as an investor to be quite

35:31

honest with you. get it out of the way

35:32

and say, "Okay, now my portfolio is now

35:34

down. Let me start building up again."

35:37

Because long stretches of flat or down

35:40

markets are incredibly,

35:43

you know, difficult to deal with as an

35:45

investor. They suck all the energy out

35:47

of you, right? Which is one reason by

35:48

the time you got to the late '7s, people

35:51

had had stopped investing in there were

35:52

some people who said, "I will never

35:54

invest in stocks again." Because it

35:56

that's what long stretches do. And

35:58

that's what we don't know yet how this

36:01

will play out. Will it be this climactic

36:03

moment where everybody wakes up and says

36:05

this is terrible. What have we done and

36:07

have this massive correction or is it

36:11

going to be something that's going to be

36:12

a drip drip drip correction that occurs

36:15

over time and you know we're going to

36:18

find out at least in we won't know until

36:20

hindsight but you know that's what I'm

36:22

watching for is where you know how will

36:24

that play out. For those who would say

36:26

to you, I've heard investors get

36:28

concerned before. Uh the people who say,

36:30

you know, economists have predicted

36:34

eight out of the last three recessions

36:35

or whatever the the the phrase is. Um

36:39

and I'm sure some people would listen to

36:41

this and that's running through their

36:43

head right now. This guy's saying he's

36:44

very worried there could be a lot very

36:47

large correction or a very long

36:49

correction. Either way, it's going to be

36:50

very painful. And so you kind of want to

36:53

trim your position out of the markets

36:55

and into something else, something that

36:57

isn't correlated. What would you say to

37:00

those people who have that skepticism of

37:03

like, you know, I've heard doomsday

37:05

predictions before. I'm not saying it's

37:06

a doomsday prediction, but it's a

37:07

negative prediction. Um, and you know,

37:10

some people get burned when they're

37:11

negative or if they're bearish.

37:13

>> I tell them exactly what I'm doing. I'm

37:15

not selling all the stocks in my

37:16

portfolio. I'm not running for the

37:18

hills. I'm not buying putting all my

37:20

money in gold or Bitcoin because I think

37:23

that's the kind of action where even if

37:25

you're right, you end up losing in the

37:27

long term because once you get out of

37:29

stocks entirely, it becomes very

37:31

difficult to get back in. You stay out

37:34

of markets too long. I know people who

37:36

sold in 2008, they got the timing right,

37:38

but they stayed out for the next decade.

37:40

And in hindsight, they're saying, "I

37:41

wish I hadn't done that." I'm not

37:43

selling everything, but I'm mopping and

37:46

loping portfolio positions in a and and

37:48

it's nice to be in a position where

37:50

you're taking a stock that's up 20 200%

37:53

or 2,000% in your portfolio. You're

37:55

selling 25% of it. I'm not even selling

37:58

all, you know, my even my Nvidia, I

38:00

staggered out over four different and I

38:02

still hold on to a quarter of the

38:04

Invidia that I tended to hold. So, I'm

38:06

not suggesting drastic selling

38:08

everything, but I'm suggesting taking

38:11

your profits. don't get greedy and

38:12

taking those profits and rather than

38:15

putting in the next hot stock holding it

38:17

in cash

38:20

or look so my portfolio allocation has

38:23

adjusted only gradually over the last 10

38:26

years and Michael Bur would look at my

38:27

portfolio and say you're overinvesting

38:29

stocks and he's probably right I will

38:31

probably feel more pain in a correction

38:34

than somebody who steps out of stocks

38:36

entirely now but I also feel more

38:40

comfortable in the long term I'm doing

38:41

this gradually and kind of doing this

38:43

adjustment because I'm never completely

38:46

I will never completely be out of stocks

38:48

and bots. It's not my nature. It doesn't

38:50

work with my risk aversion, but I'm I

38:54

have less of my portfolio invested in

38:56

long-term bonds and stocks. I don't own

38:59

much bonds to begin with stocks then

39:01

probably anytime in the but but that's

39:04

not come from just selling off

39:05

everything but for selling off my most

39:07

profitable my biggest winners and

39:10

bringing them back in line. Now I have

39:12

this upper limit of no no stock should

39:14

be more than 15% of my portfolio and

39:18

that served me well to get a lot of cash

39:20

on the side because I've had to lock

39:22

positions on my biggest winners to get

39:24

there. So I would say don't do anything

39:26

rash. I'm not suggesting you sell

39:27

everything. I don't s I know I don't I'm

39:29

not suggesting buying puts on the index.

39:31

I mean those are the kinds of things

39:32

that get people into trouble but at

39:35

least gradually start thinking about how

39:37

much you know at least for you know in

39:39

terms of cash needs for the next two or

39:41

three years. See if you can get a

39:43

portion of your portfolio where you

39:44

don't have to sell things cuz you need

39:46

to pay for your s for your kids tuition

39:49

college tuition because who knows what

39:51

price you might be selling at. So think

39:53

ahead, think ahead of what your needs

39:55

are are, your cash needs are going to be

39:57

and start thinking about, you know, what

40:00

in your portfolio you might want to take

40:02

your profits on.

40:03

>> You mentioned maybe you want to put it

40:05

in cash, maybe you want to put it in

40:07

physical assets, real estate, uh maybe

40:09

rental properties. Uh collectibles,

40:11

could you just describe what

40:12

collectibles are? What fits into that

40:14

category?

40:15

>> Gold is the classic one right now.

40:17

Basically, collectibles is entirely

40:18

driven by scarcity and enduring demand.

40:22

Now, would I put my money in Pokemon

40:23

cards? No, not, you know, that's not my

40:26

the collectible I would go with. I would

40:28

look for collectibles that have survived

40:30

the test of time. It's one reason I

40:33

would pick gold over Bitcoin. Cuz much

40:35

as Bitcoin has been a better money maker

40:38

for you in the last 15 years, I'm not

40:41

sure it survives that shake out that

40:43

comes when people say, "Oh my god."

40:45

So you want to steer your money to

40:47

collectibles and if it's a collectible

40:48

which you truly enjoy, it's you get

40:50

emotional dividends. So you love

40:52

paintings, you know, and this is what

40:53

you work with. If if that's where you

40:56

want to put some of your money into is

40:58

is baseball cards because you've truly

41:00

done your work on baseball cards. Who am

41:02

I to step in and say that's not a great

41:04

place to put your money? No. So I think

41:06

collectibles it has to depend on where

41:09

you get your emotional dividends. What

41:11

makes you happy? Because a collectible

41:12

is not going to give you any dividends

41:14

while it's sitting in your portfolio.

41:16

You might as well look at it and enjoy

41:17

it while you have it. So maybe you enjoy

41:19

looking at gold. Maybe you like wearing

41:20

jewelry. Maybe you like art on on the

41:23

wall. But you know, collectibles, I

41:26

think there is no one know one sizefits

41:30

all. It really depends on your makeup as

41:32

a person and what you think your

41:35

collectible class is. And yet it does

41:38

seem to fly in the face of the

41:40

principles of value investing a little

41:42

bit where you're investing in cash

41:45

flows.

41:45

>> Oh, absolutely.

41:46

>> For the value investors who who would

41:49

say, you know, if you're trying to

41:52

invest uh in downturns, you want assets

41:55

that produce cash flows, that can pay

41:58

dividends.

41:58

>> Then put your money in cash, right? Put

42:00

your money in tables. It's as simple as

42:02

that. So, if you don't feel comfortable

42:03

with collectibles, I completely

42:05

understand. I I mean I'm not comfortable

42:07

with electables so it's not my first

42:09

instinct but I think one of the problems

42:12

is if your worry is not about market and

42:15

economic crisis but hyperinflation all

42:18

those temporary things we started after

42:21

co have become permanent things and

42:23

we're not willing to raise the revenues

42:25

to cover those expenses we're setting

42:27

ourselves up for doubledigit inflation

42:30

then even cash is not going to protect

42:32

you because your currency is going to

42:33

devalue so it depends on What scares

42:36

you? If it's economic or market crisis

42:39

and holding your money in cash works. If

42:41

it's inflation, then I think you got to

42:43

almost leave the financial asset domain

42:46

and that includes cash even in

42:47

short-term investments and think about

42:50

what do I put my money in? And it's not

42:52

easy to find something. It's not a

42:53

healthy place to be as a marketer in

42:56

economy where that's what we're looking

42:58

for. But I'd wait that there's a subset

43:01

of the investing community which has

43:03

reached that place. I'm not sure whether

43:05

Ray Dalio or um um Jamie Diamond own

43:10

gold, but they talk a lot like they

43:12

should be owning gold, right? You listen

43:13

to them and say, "What exactly are you

43:15

holding?"

43:15

>> I know Ray has Ray Ray's big on gold

43:17

right now. Yeah,

43:19

>> that's uncommon, right? Because if you'

43:21

asked Ray Dal, 40 years ago, would you

43:23

buy gold? My guess is he'd have looked

43:24

at you like two heads saying, "Are you

43:26

crazy? Why would I buy gold? I'd go buy

43:28

Chinese companies or buy undervalued

43:29

companies in this economy." The very

43:32

fact that Ray Dalio is holding gold

43:34

tells you something about safe places

43:36

and how difficult it's become to find

43:38

them within the financial asset markets.

43:42

>> We'll be right back. And for even more

43:44

markets content, sign up for our

43:46

newsletter at profarkets.com/subscribe.

43:53

[Music]

43:57

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45:11

>> We're back with Profy Markets. Well,

45:13

each year as swath, we do a predictions

45:15

stack and one of the things we do is we

45:17

try and pick one of the big tech stocks

45:20

or one of the magnificent 10 that we

45:21

think is going to outperform the others.

45:23

And it's key that we say outperform the

45:25

others cuz I don't think anything looks

45:27

cheap right now. I'm not comfortable

45:28

saying this is a good this is a good

45:30

buy, but I think it will outperform,

45:32

meaning it might get it might go down

45:34

less than the others. And this year

45:35

we're thinking

45:37

um that it's going to be our pick is

45:39

going to be Amazon. Last year was

45:40

Google. It just looked cheap relative uh

45:43

to the rest of the S&P uh because of

45:45

this existential overhang that we

45:47

thought was over overblown about the

45:49

existential threat of uh AI relative to

45:52

its search business. By the way, search

45:54

business was up 14% and the stocks up

45:56

63% in the last 12 months. But the pick

45:59

this year we're thinking and I'd love to

46:00

get your thoughts is Amazon and that is

46:03

it's not cheap but it doesn't look

46:05

historically expensive. It's trading at

46:06

a pe of about 34. They've announced that

46:09

their retail unit they may achieve

46:11

double the revenues with the same number

46:13

of people. It feels like the collision

46:15

of AI and robotics and the early

46:16

investments they made in robotics is

46:18

really starting to pay off. And then

46:21

some, you know, free free gifts with

46:24

purchase. Uh an AI business or a cloud

46:27

business that's the leader that hasn't

46:29

gotten the valuation that some of the

46:31

other cloud or attention players have

46:32

gotten because it's seen as not the AI

46:34

capable cloud. We think they will fix

46:36

that. Kyper, you know, putting

46:38

satellites. We think that it'd be

46:40

interesting if they get any traction

46:41

there in some. How do you feel about our

46:43

pick of Amazon being uh on a

46:46

riskadjusted basis outperforming the

46:48

rest of the magnificent 10 over the next

46:50

12 months?

46:51

>> I think I you know I would pick Amazon

46:52

and Apple as my picks and the reason is

46:55

they haven't gone crazy on their AI

46:57

spending. I mean it's to me the caution

46:59

the natural caution that Tim Cook has in

47:02

terms of throwing money at new

47:04

businesses is going to be a plus not a

47:06

minus right so I know equity research

47:08

analysts pick on Apple for not being

47:10

aggressive in the AI and I think that's

47:12

going to be a good thing because when

47:14

the correction comes the people who have

47:16

been most aggressive are the ones who

47:18

are going to be most exposed and Apple's

47:20

lack of aggression I think might work in

47:22

their favor because they haven't been

47:25

throwing the 50 60 80 billion that you

47:28

see some of the other big tech companies

47:31

throwing at it. So I and Amazon's been

47:34

in my portfolio now for a few years and

47:36

as I said I you know it's one of those

47:38

companies that I would hold on to here

47:40

even through a correction and

47:42

continuence cuz let's face it it's

47:44

become such a central part of so many

47:46

people's lives. I I don't see it kind of

47:49

having a collapse of business

47:52

you know even if with an economic

47:54

contraction or correction. In fact, it

47:56

might benefit from that. Who knows?

47:57

Target might get so cheap that Amazon

47:59

could pick it up for pennies on the

48:01

dollar. So, who knows where it's going

48:03

to go next. So, I, you know, I I like

48:05

your pick. I mean, Amazon would be my

48:07

pick as well.

48:08

>> Going back to

48:10

what you're thinking about in terms of

48:11

trimming your positions,

48:14

um, I'm wondering if you have any uh if

48:17

your thoughts differ depending on

48:19

someone's risk profile, risk appetite,

48:23

and perhaps their age as well. So me as

48:25

an example, I'm a young person. AI is

48:30

the big hot new thing. Um, you know, I

48:33

want to get involved. I want to be on

48:37

the train somehow. Um, does your advice

48:41

change depending on your age and what

48:44

you're looking for? or for someone like

48:46

me, for example, I agree there's going

48:48

to be a correction, but I've also got to

48:51

tell you, I I don't want to dump AI and

48:53

get in cash. I don't want to do that.

48:56

>> I think, you know, if I were advising

48:58

you, I'd say do what you're doing, but

49:01

do it with caution. So, you know, you're

49:04

not you not only have a portfolio,

49:05

you're adding to that portfolio

49:07

presumably each year with, you know,

49:09

savings and additional money. My advice

49:11

is that additional money you're putting

49:13

into your portfolio don't all I mean if

49:15

your traditional practice I'm going to

49:16

buy the index fund every year you know

49:18

which is what I advise my kids to do

49:19

take your savings buy index funds go

49:21

back to doing your regular jobs because

49:23

I don't want you setting spending

49:24

evenings trying to pick stocks it's not

49:26

worth the effort now this year my advice

49:29

to them is that additional the savings

49:32

you got from your income this year

49:34

instead of putting it all into stocks

49:35

why don't you hold it as cash so it's

49:39

not advice about changing your existing

49:41

portfolio. It's about additions to your

49:43

portfolio being more cautious in those

49:45

additions at least for the near term now

49:49

or if you're you know I'm not a great

49:50

fan of of doing things on a staggered

49:53

basis but maybe rather than putting it

49:55

all at one go rather put it in four

49:57

installments over the next four

49:58

quarters. If nothing else if there's a

50:00

correction there then you don't get it

50:02

all up front. So it's just a little more

50:05

caution about increments to your

50:08

portfolio. But you have two things going

50:09

for you. One is the fact that you have a

50:11

long longer time horizon. The other is

50:14

you don't need your portfolio to supply

50:16

you cash to meet needs. You know for

50:20

people who don't need their portfolio to

50:21

provide cash, you get an advantage. You

50:25

get an advantage because you have a

50:26

downturn. You don't need the portfolio.

50:28

You don't need to sell it to get the

50:30

cash. So people who are closer, so it's

50:32

not as much age as how close are you to

50:35

having to cash out your portfolio to do

50:37

something, to buy a house, to go to

50:39

college, the closer you are to that, the

50:41

more cautious I would suggest you become

50:43

or maybe convert more of your portfolio

50:45

into cash cuz those are the people who

50:48

will be most damaged by a correction

50:50

that happens just before

50:53

they were planning to take the cash out

50:55

because then your lifestyle will have to

50:57

change. your choice of college might

50:58

have to change and that's not something

51:01

you want coming out of your portfolio.

51:03

So my advice would be would depend on

51:06

your age, how much cash needs you have,

51:08

what are you looking to do because those

51:10

will all play out and what you should be

51:12

doing. But I'm not a great fan of these

51:14

drastic actions where you sell

51:16

everything in your portfolio and you try

51:18

to move it all into something else

51:20

because often the long-term consequences

51:23

of that, you know, you end up worse off

51:26

than somebody who wrote through the

51:28

correction and was able to kind of come

51:30

back from it.

51:31

>> I'm glad you bring that up because I

51:32

think it it gets to the heart of of what

51:35

the problem is with corrections, which

51:37

is it is a timing problem. And you

51:39

mentioned that with Michael Bur. It's

51:40

like yes, you can go short, but that's

51:42

not the question. The question is the

51:44

timing. It's like, are you are you going

51:47

to time it right? And then the same

51:49

thing is true of what does the timeline

51:51

look like on your life? When will you

51:53

need the cash? And what position will

51:55

you need to be in on that time frame,

51:58

which I think is helpful. But I'm I am

52:00

struck by even for those who are not so

52:04

worried about timing, for those who have

52:08

a somewhat steady income and who are

52:11

young and who are trying to build a

52:12

portfolio, your view is still maybe

52:16

maybe don't keep um dollar cost

52:18

averaging into the market. maybe get

52:20

into cash, which is striking to me,

52:23

especially given inflation,

52:25

which is high, uh, appears to be going

52:29

even higher. It doesn't look like we're

52:32

going to be in a 2% inflation world. Um,

52:36

what would you say to those people?

52:38

>> Buy 3 month tables, roll them over. If

52:40

inflation actually turns out to be

52:41

higher than expected, that table rate

52:43

will rise. I mean the best measure of

52:46

protection against expected inflation

52:49

has been buying short-term treasuries.

52:52

So I think that you know my advice is if

52:55

that is your concern is that inflation

52:57

should up keep it shortterm. I mean I

52:59

buy my treasuries directly from the US

53:01

Treasury. So you're not going through

53:02

intermediaries. You basically pick the

53:05

per the the expiration date when the

53:08

table's going to expire 3 months 6

53:09

months whatever works for you. have a

53:13

preset rule as to when you plan to get

53:15

that into stocks. So you might say,

53:16

"Look, I'm going to put this into

53:18

treasuries, but I won't be the one who

53:20

pulls the trigger when it goes into

53:22

stocks. This is what'll happen when once

53:25

the cash sits there for 6 months or 9

53:27

months, it almost on autopilot moves

53:30

into my index fund." So it's not you're

53:32

not changing your historical pattern of

53:34

being invested in risky assets and

53:36

looking for the higher return. You're

53:38

just slowing the process down. So you're

53:40

not jumping in at a time just before a

53:42

correction hits and then fe facing you

53:45

know. So I think that's all you're doing

53:47

is kind of giving yourself a little

53:50

slack in this process. When we last

53:53

chated it was in August and we were

53:55

talking about big tech valuations. we

53:58

were talking about not that there was an

53:59

AI bubble, but that there were there was

54:03

a lot of momentum and perhaps a lot of

54:05

hype and you were somewhat bearish on AI

54:09

or somewhat bearish on tech at the time.

54:11

Now you are more bearish, it appears to

54:14

me at least. Um I'm wondering if there

54:17

was a moment or maybe uh a specific

54:21

company or a specific valuation that

54:24

sort of changed your tune on this. I

54:26

know that it wasn't a 180, but there's

54:29

certainly been an acceleration in your

54:32

views.

54:33

>> I think it's more incremental and part

54:35

of it is watching these companies invest

54:38

in each other, right? I mean, it's it's

54:40

there's this almost incestuous

54:43

relationship between the big AI players

54:46

and one of two things can be driving.

54:47

One is that they want to dominate the AI

54:49

space that's going to emerge 5 years

54:51

from now and they want to create these

54:52

barriers to entry. The other is this is

54:56

almost like a Ponzi scheme where they

54:58

have to keep investing in each other,

54:59

making each other look more valuable

55:01

because that's the only way they can get

55:02

the rest of the market to go in. I'm not

55:05

ready to make a decision that it's the

55:07

latter. But watching that happen has

55:09

made me more negative about AI. If you

55:11

really feel as, you know, as invi that

55:15

you're going to carry the game, why

55:17

would you need these crossinvesting in

55:19

other players in the game? because that

55:22

seems like you're hedging your bets and

55:24

protecting yourself and making sure that

55:26

nobody new is going to break in. So that

55:29

suggests to me that much as they they

55:31

convey confidence in the market that

55:33

they think they're going to rule the

55:35

world of AI that within these companies

55:38

there's still uncertainty about whether

55:39

they will in fact rule the world of AI

55:41

and what they're creating is this

55:43

preemptive barrier to other people

55:45

entering. So that's the one thing that I

55:48

think has changed for me is watching

55:50

that

55:52

cross company investment and what it

55:53

tells me about what's in their mindsets

55:55

about the future of AI.

55:57

>> Going back to the beginning of this

55:59

episode where I asked about you know

56:01

this this conventional wisdom the idea

56:03

that a lot of people are saying that

56:04

there is a bubble and a lot of people

56:07

are also pointing out what you just said

56:08

which is the circular investments the

56:10

incestuous relationships and all the

56:12

negative connotations that come about.

56:15

Um, and yet we're looking at all-time

56:19

highs and yet we're looking at, you

56:22

know, 56 times earnings on Nvidia. We we

56:25

are looking at very very rich valuations

56:28

while everyone says, "Yeah, it's a

56:30

bubble." Even the people who run these

56:32

companies in some cases are saying maybe

56:34

not it is a bubble, but it certainly

56:36

could be a bubble. Is that unusual? Does

56:40

that surprise you?

56:41

>> Not at all. Right. Because think of how

56:44

portfolio managers get evaluated, right?

56:46

They get evaluated against other

56:48

portfolio managers. So if you did not

56:51

own the MAG 7 over the last 5 years, all

56:55

the money's left your port your clients

56:57

have left. If you do buy into Nvidia

57:00

now, even if it's a high and there's a

57:02

correction, guess who you get measured

57:04

against? Other portfolio managers who

57:06

also own Nvidia who also see the same

57:09

correction. You're down 37%.

57:12

But if everybody else is down 43%, you

57:14

still say, "Look, I came out of this

57:17

much better off." And because we let

57:19

people create their own their own

57:22

pathways, I'm a tech investor. I'm a

57:24

They essentially have this argument.

57:26

Look, I had no choice. I had to invest

57:27

in this because this is what tech look

57:29

like. I think the way we reward and

57:32

punish success in active money

57:35

management doesn't reward people who

57:38

lead the herd, right? It's so if I were

57:42

if I had a ch a son or a daughter as a

57:45

portfolio manager, I'd say look, you

57:46

know, pile into with the momentum

57:48

because even if you're wrong, you have

57:51

lots of company when you're wrong and

57:53

nobody gets fired when 90% are wrong.

57:57

But if you have a contrarian path and

58:00

you decide to sell short on the Mac 7

58:02

and you turn out to be wrong, you lose

58:05

your job. So I think the way we and

58:08

that's why it's only people like Michael

58:10

Bur who can do this. I'm going to sell

58:12

short because they're not managing

58:15

conventional money. They're not they've

58:17

got a subset of clients who bought into

58:19

their into what they do. But you can't

58:22

do this if you're a big portfolio

58:24

manager, big endowment fund because the

58:26

way you get judged, way you get rewarded

58:28

and punished essentially keeps you on

58:31

that stay with the crowd. Even if that

58:33

crowd is wrong, it's better to be with

58:35

the crowd and be wrong than to break

58:37

away from it.

58:38

>> For those who are listening to this and

58:40

feeling perhaps anxious, um I mean there

58:44

are a lot of concerns. There's the the

58:47

valuations that you're describing, the

58:49

possibility of a correction, there's the

58:51

fact that AI could have massive effects

58:54

on the job market. Um perhaps some

58:57

people I know many listeners feel that

58:59

they are concerned about the security of

59:01

their jobs. Um what would you say to

59:06

those people? Uh what would be your

59:08

advice?

59:09

>> You can control only what you can

59:11

control. So my advice is take your job

59:14

take a look at what you do. If 998

59:18

97% of what you do is mechanical,

59:20

whether AI is here or not, you're asking

59:23

to be replaced by a machine.

59:27

So try to create a component of what you

59:30

do that is going to be difficult for a

59:32

machine to do. I mean, I give I gave a

59:34

talk right after, you know, about AI

59:36

bots because I had an AI bot that was

59:38

trying to replicate me and I said,

59:39

"Look, I'll make your job easier. Here

59:41

are the things that I do that you could

59:42

replicate. those data sets that I

59:44

upgrade every year. Hey, you can do that

59:46

very simply yourself, you know. So, so I

59:48

actually took out the 80% of what I do.

59:50

So, you can do this. Here's the part

59:52

that I think I can do that you're going

59:54

to have a much tougher time. I would say

59:56

impossible because who knows how

59:57

sophistic I think we all need to do a

60:00

personal inventory of what we do at our

60:03

jobs and whether it's something that a

60:06

machine could do better. Now, I'll give

60:08

you a very simple example. Right now

60:10

people keep sending me ways in which

60:12

they think they can beat the market if I

60:14

do this and this and I have a very

60:16

simple response that can chat do what

60:20

you've just described as doing so I buy

60:22

low PE stocks with high growth rates

60:24

will I make money and I said how

60:26

difficult do you think it is going to be

60:28

to find low PE stocks with high grow

60:29

especially when you look at past growth

60:31

chat GPT can do that why do you think

60:34

you're going to be able to make money on

60:36

something that a machine can do

60:39

effortlessly.

60:41

So my advice to people is act like AI is

60:44

going to take your job because it's

60:48

better to do that and not have AI

60:50

measure up to its promise than the

60:52

alternative which is think AI is never

60:55

going to take off. You keep doing what

60:56

you're doing and one day you walk into

60:58

your office and you've been fired and

61:00

replaced by a by a bot that essentially

61:03

does what you do. Could I just ask for

61:05

you personally when you eliminated all

61:07

the 80% of the things that you believe

61:09

that AI could replicate in your work?

61:13

What were you left over with? What what

61:15

can AI not do that you do?

61:18

>> Imagination and creative the kinds of

61:20

things where my my family takes issue

61:23

with me. I'm a daydreamer. I I connect

61:25

these unconnected things in my mind and

61:28

most of the time it's useless. I'm you

61:30

know people say I'm wasting time because

61:33

I'm doing this but some of my most

61:35

productive thoughts have come from

61:37

connecting you know I wrote a piece on

61:39

this about catastrophic risk and I don't

61:41

know whether I ever mentioned this was

61:43

about start of this year I got an email

61:45

from somebody in Iceland who read my

61:46

blog and he said look I've been reading

61:49

your blog but I have a valuation

61:50

challenge I'm valuing this Icelandic spa

61:54

called Blue Lagoon it's a legendary spa

61:57

and I'm facing a problem I've never

61:59

faced before there's this volcano that's

62:02

erupted and the lava is flowing in the

62:04

general direction of the blue lagoon and

62:07

I don't know how to bring that into

62:08

valuation. I've looked at all the books.

62:09

There's no lava risk in any of the

62:11

books. So I read the email. I never

62:13

answered to him, but I took my dog for a

62:15

walk and while I was on the walk, I was

62:17

thinking about this and I started

62:18

thinking about

62:20

the fact that fossil fuel companies, you

62:23

know, you have COP 30 and you talk

62:24

about, you know, how come fossil fuel

62:27

companies are trading at much higher

62:28

multiples of earnings and there is

62:30

there's catastrophic risk looming. And

62:32

while I'm thinking about fossil fuel

62:34

companies, I remember the house I own

62:36

two blocks from the Pacific Ocean, one

62:38

of the worst earthquake falls. And I

62:39

said, "What was I thinking when I paid

62:41

the money that I paid for that house?"

62:43

Again, catastrophic risk. And I'm acting

62:45

like it's not there. And while I'm still

62:48

there, I'm thinking about the Mad Max

62:49

movies. I'm thinking about how often in

62:52

the Mad Max movies do people check their

62:54

portfolios almost never. And the

62:57

conclusion I came to was we as human

62:59

beings take catastrophic risk and we

63:01

don't build build it into our

63:03

expectations. We set it to the side cuz

63:06

our view is if that happens, who cares

63:08

what your portfolio looks like, you

63:10

know, we don't build in nuclear war into

63:13

our expectations. We don't build in the

63:15

fact that the oceans could rise 3 ft

63:17

because if that happens, none of the

63:20

other stuff matters.

63:22

And that all came from a 30 minute walk

63:24

where I let my mind wander.

63:26

So I don't think a computer is going to

63:30

do it because it's going to be too I

63:31

mean it's not that's what makes us human

63:34

beings the capacity to connect

63:36

disconnected thoughts an apple falling

63:38

on your head and the law of gravity. How

63:41

the heck do you go from one to the

63:42

other? But Newton did this right? Some

63:45

of the greatest insights of mankind have

63:47

come from people connecting disconnected

63:49

things. So keep an idle mind. Read less.

63:55

think more, daydream more. I mean, and I

63:58

think unfortunately, if you were a

63:59

conspiracy theorist, you would argue

64:01

that technology companies are setting us

64:03

up to be replaced because they're taking

64:06

every space of idle time we have and

64:09

filling it up with something. I mean,

64:11

you go to catch a flight, take a look

64:13

around you, every person is checking

64:14

their iPhone, right? You're filling your

64:17

space, reading Facebook posts, reading,

64:19

looking at it. We are not giving

64:22

ourselves that idle time to let our mind

64:26

connect. And I know it's a strange thing

64:28

to say, but that's an advantage I have

64:31

over a machine that's going to be very

64:33

difficult for the machine to replicate.

64:34

So, you know what I'm going to do? Read

64:36

less, daydream more. And I've been doing

64:39

that a lot because for the last 3

64:41

months, I've been looking after my

64:43

granddaughter who just turned 6 months.

64:45

And when you're with and I'm the

64:47

caregiver so you don't have the luxury

64:49

of reading or so basically I'm spending

64:51

all my time holding a baby feeding it

64:53

putting it to sleep and it's an amazing

64:55

time to let your mind wander and to me I

64:59

you know I I I don't know what will come

65:01

out of this maybe nothing will but I'm

65:03

glad I have that time should be a vital

65:05

time cherish it because that's when I

65:07

think you can find your AI beater within

65:10

you

65:11

>> as deodoran is the kasha family chair in

65:13

finance education and professor of

65:15

finance at NYU Stern School of Business

65:17

where he teaches corporate finance and

65:19

valuation. You can also read his

65:21

research on his blog musings on markets.

65:25

Professor Demodin uh always a pleasure.

65:27

Thank you so much.

65:28

>> Thank you for having me.

65:29

>> Very much appreciate your time as well.

65:31

>> Take care Scott.

65:34

>> Thank you for listening to Profy Markets

65:36

from Profy Media. If you liked what you

65:37

heard, give us a follow and join us for

65:40

a fresh take on markets on Monday.

65:43

[Music]

Interactive Summary

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The video discusses the AI bubble, with various experts sharing their views on whether we are in one and its potential consequences. There's a general consensus that AI valuations are high, with some likening it to the dot-com bubble. The conversation also touches on investment strategies, including the appeal of gold and real estate as inflation-resistant assets. Additionally, the importance of human creativity and critical thinking in the face of AI advancement is highlighted, with advice for individuals to focus on skills that machines cannot easily replicate.

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