Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of January 7, 2020

Article Excerpt

Here’s the text of the most-recent letter I sent to our Portfolio Management clients in November. “Dr. Robert Shiller—economics professor at Yale University, and joint winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics—has redeemed himself, in our opinion. I’ll say more in a moment, but first let me refresh your memory. You’ve probably read about Dr. Shiller here and elsewhere, but not for his link with Yale or the Nobel. Instead, he captured investor attention by creating what he calls the Cyclically Adjusted PE Ratio, or “CAPE Ratio,” his own version of the P/E ratio. It’s better known as the Shiller P/E. As you know, the P/E is the ratio between the per-share “P,” or price of a stock, and its per-share “E,” or earnings. For a century or more, the P/E has been widely used as a guide to value in the stock market. Early in their investing careers, many people get the idea that a P/E under 10.0 is a bargain, and…