Michael Kramer, founder of Mott Capital Management, joins the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast to discuss his investing experience as reflected in the Reading the Markets service. On the whole, he is "very bullish on the equity market," believing another up leg to be imminent that will be reminiscent of the late 2016 to early 2018 period. For 2020, he has a target valuation of 3,400 for the S&P 500, corresponding to an increase of about 10% to 15% from current levels. He also shares some of his top picks. Topics Covered: 2:00 - Investing strategy/key lesson 6:15 - Something new learned over the past year 8:15 - View of macro picture 15:00 - Thoughts on equity market sectors 19:45 - Anything that scares you about the markets or your portfolio? 20:45 - Something that gives you confidence 23:00 - Concerns about recession, inflation, manufacturing? 25:00 - Favorite ideas (DIS) (NFLX) (T) (SQ) (AMD)

Thomas Lott, an adherent to Graham and Dodd/Buffett style investing, joins the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast to discuss his strategy as reflected in the Cash Flow Compounders service. Lott seeks companies that have the ability to compound earnings per share better than market rates over an extended period of time. In this case at least 8%, which is more than the 6% annual average in the S&P 500 since 2015. It's not just about earnings growth, however. Investment-grade balance sheets, higher return on equity, high margins, and stocks that didn't lose material value during the Great Recession are additional factors that go into Lott's screen. Right now he has a list of "about 100 names" that he considers "best in class" and an additional list of 200 second-tier stocks. The critical decision is choosing an entry point for investing. Here Lott tracks prices to identify when stocks trade cheaply "to their typical trading patterns." He ranks the 100 names on a daily basis using "four or five metrics" and then does more fundamental work "to figure out if this is something I want to own." Right now, Lott sees markets "kind of at an inflection point" where there could soon be a shift from growth back to value stocks. One of his favorite ideas right now is Wabtec Corp. (WAB), a manufacturer of locomotives and locomotive parts that recently acquired GE Transportation. There are several factors that go into his thesis, all of which are discussed on the podcast starting around 19:31. Topics Covered 2:00 minute mark - Investing strategy 7:00 - How much does balance sheet factor in to your analysis? 8:15 - What have you learned during your investing career that you find valuable right now? 10:30 - Lessons from the past year 13:45 - Something that scares you about markets/portfolio right now? 15:15 - Something that gives you confidence? 17:00 - Are you concerned that "safer" stocks could also be punished in a recession related sell-off? 19:30 - Favorite ideas. (DELL) (WAB) (CMCSA)  

This trailer previews our initial two shows on The Investing Edge, from Value Investor's Edge Live hosted by J Mintzmyer, and The Razor's Edge, hosted by Daniel Shvartsman and Akram's Razor. Our excerpt for Value Investor's Edge Live is from our first episode, where J Mintzmyer speaks with Robert Bugbee of Scorpio Tankers about the company's comfortable cash position and the pending catalyst of IMO 2020. Our excerpt from The Razor's Edge is from the first episode, which covers Disney, Netlfix, and the streaming universe. Daniel Shvartsman asks Akram's Razor about whether Netflix can solve a budding challenge - too much content on the service. The Investing Edge is a podcast channel on Seeking Alpha that features shows from different Seeking Alpha authors, with a focus on their unique investing style. Authors will speak with CEOs and industry experts, break down key market stories and topics, and share insights on how they research new investments. The first two shows on The Investing Edge are: Value Investor's Edge Live, hosted by J Mintzmyer of Value Investor's Edge. The show will feature J's conversations with publicly traded shipping company CEOs, sector experts, and fellow deep value investors about their companies and investing approaches. The Razor's Edge, hosted by SA podcast host Daniel Shvartsman and Seeking Alpha author Akram's Razor of The Razor's Edge.

The Fortune Teller joins the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast to discuss his investing experience as reflected in the Wheel of Fortune service. TFT's strategy starts with a comprehensive view of the entire market across asset classes. The primary concern is risk. "We think that our first responsibility is assessing and calculating the risk," says TFT. "Risk management lies at the very core and essence of everything we do." Overall, the disconnect between markets and the real economy "is becoming a bit alarming." This disconnect scares TFT, who cites a slowing job market in the U.S., lower GDP growth, and manufacturing PMIs in contraction territory as concerns about the big picture. This doesn't prevent TFT from developing new investing ideas. It publishes more than 200 each month. Favorite ideas right now start with preferred shares: New York Mortgage Trust 8% (NYMTN), Series B or E of Colony Capital (CLNY), and Teekay LNG Partners Series B (TGP.PB). TFT also likes precious metals. "We prefer silver over gold because we believe silver has a better chance to catch up," he says. Among consumer staples, CVS Health Corp (CVS) and Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) are favorites. Many other ideas are discussed toward the end of the podcast, including in energy MLPs, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and more.  Topics Covered 2:45 - Investing strategy 5:30 - What asset classes do you invest in? 7:00 - Key lessons learned 13:30 - Something new learned in the last year 17:30 - How does the rest of 2019 look? 27:15 - Thoughts on specific market sectors? 33:00 - Something scary about the markets 40:00 - Something that gives you confidence in your approach 46:00 - Favorite ideas  

Avi Gilburt rejoins the Marketplace Roundtable to share his prognosis on the market after a bumpy year. He reviews the basis of his investing style, and its roots in investor sentiment. He sees the potential for both a strong correction and an eventual bigger rally, which leaves him looking for a better entry point. The story is similar in bitcoin and metals as well. Topics covered: 2:00 minute mark - Description of "Fibonacci Pinball" and "Elliot Wave." 4:30 - What do these theories say about today's market? 6:30 - How does this affect your investing strategy? 9:00 - Lessons learned. 10:30 - What to look for when entering into an investment. 13:30 - Would your investing strategy be useful in dealing with anything from the past year or so? 15:00 - Can central bank action affect Elliot Wave cycle? 18:00 - Does anything scare you about the markets or your portfolio? 19:15 - What gives you confidence? 20:00 - Bitcoin bottom and rally. 22:30 - Specific ideas recommendations.

Seeking Alpha's Jonathan Liss is joined on the latest episode of The Marketplace Roundtable Podcast by long-time Seeking Alpha contributor Maks F.S. Maks first began contributing to Seeking Alpha in 2014, building up a following of more than 5,000 investors writing about income investing. Previously an advisor at Ameriprise Financial, Maks currently works at a family office managing money for his family and friends. His specialties include fee-based, comprehensive financial planning, retirement planning, life insurance and protection planning. In 2017 he launched his own Seeking Alpha Marketplace service, Income Idea. Subscribers to Income Idea receive regular CEF, ETF and stock ideas with an eye on generating income while preserving capital and mitigating downside risk. The service also includes an income portfolio, an active chat room and direct access to Maks F.S. In Maks' own words, "It's not about how much you make, but about how much you keep. My focus will be on the latter -- making sure you preserve the income that you earn. Income Idea's goal is to help you generate income while mitigating downside risk. My goal is to help you discover income generating actively managed funds and ETFs and the best strategies to implement them throughout market cycles. Topics Covered: 3:00 - Maks' backstory: How did he get into investing? 6:30 - Income Idea: The basic premise of Maks' Marketplace service 9:30 - Maks' rules for selecting and evaluating ETFs 15:30 - Does it make sense to AUM minimums when evaluating specific funds for possible purchase? 17:45 - Maks' favorite fund sponsors 21:30 - Whither interest rates? 23:15 - Sources of safe income 26:15 - Evaluating durations: is there value across the curve? 28:30 - Specific ETF recommendations (MUB) (EMB) (PCY) 32:15 - Non-income focused ETF recommendations (FIW) (TBLU) 38:15 - Closed-end fund income recommendations (BCX) (NXQ) (NBB) 45:30 - A word on open-ended mutual funds 47:45 - Favorite ideas and good calls Maks has made recently (RGR) (AOBC) (SPWH) (ROKU) 57:30 - Closing remarks and advice

Ruerd Heeg joins the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast to discuss his quantitative methods of investing as reflected in his Global Deep Value service. Heeg seeks stocks with multiple favorable fundamentals, such as those trading below net current assets or with low price earnings. He diversifies by investing in multiple parts of the world through a variety of strategies. "I export fundamentals for thousands of global stocks, then I rank these stocks in several metrics simultaneously, using a computer program." The metrics are determined by the strategy -- Heeg has seven that are based on academic research. A simple metric that has improved results is to filter stocks by liquidity. This yielded better companies than before. A statistical approach, "using many small positions," is a good way to hedge out the factor of luck, says Heeg. Topics Covered 2:10 minute mark - Investing strategy, mathematical models 6:45 - Key lesson learned over time 8:00 - Anything valuable to take away from how the markets have been behaving? 10:15 - What are some sectors you cover? 14:00 - Specific picks (OAOFY) (TSLA) 20:15 - Concerns about market/portfolio 22:30 - What gives you confidence now? 24:15 - Talking about the Sanofi Genzyme CVR (GCVRZ) value right.  

David Alton Clark of Clark Capital joins the Marketplace Roundtable podcast to discuss his High Yield Income Forum service and how his investing strategy has evolved over the last quarter century. Having successfully navigated the dot-com collapse in the early 2000s and real estate bubble later that decade, Clark today values capital preservation over capital creation. "You really need to watch out for your nest egg as you're building it up over time," he says. That includes seemingly simple things like having a plan to "layer in" to a position once a decision has been made to invest. Topics Covered: 2:00 - Investing strategy 4:00 - Key lesson learned in your career 6:30 - Lesson learned in the last year 8:30 - What are you watching as we head toward the end of the year? 10:45 - Concerns about the market/portfolio 13:00 - What gives you confidence about your approach? 16:45 - Characteristics of bubbles 19:00 - Stock pick ideas - AT&T (T) 22:45 - Century Link (CTL) 27:30 - Iron Mountain (IRM) 29:30 - How important is dividend income to your investing thesis?  

Julian Lin joins the Marketplace Roundtable podcast to discuss his "best of breed" approach to investing high probability operators, as plays out on his Marketplace service, High Probability Investments.  Lin aims for high median returns, which requires a focus on increasing the probability of an investment's potential. "What that basically means is I'm not going to choose the cheapest operator in the space," he says. "I'm probably going to pay up for the best of breed operator, even though they might trade at a premium valuation to peers." One common mistake investors make is to rely on valuation metrics for a margin of safety. A complete investment thesis focuses on the bigger picture, says Lin. "It's not the valuation that tends to ruin an investment thesis, it's really everything else -- bad management, high debt, bad financial results." Focusing on the best of breed operators is a good place to start. Topics covered: 2:00 minute mark - Description of investment strategy 3:15 - How do you choose investments? 5:00 - Current view of the market 6:00 - Other than valuation, what separates low from high quality? 9:30 - Concerns about market/portfolio 14:30 - What gives you confidence about your approach? 16:00 - Favorite idea (SPG) 29:30 - Probably of a Facebook breakup (FB) 30:00 - Bullish on Amazon (AMZN) 35:00 - Change of heart on Alibaba (BABA)

Alpha Gen Capital joins the Marketplace Roundtable podcast to discuss his approach to investing in closed-end funds, as plays out on his Marketplace service, Yield Hunting. Alpha Gen Capital prefers closed-end funds due to the income flows and strong risk-adjusted returns. It typically looks at "high quality, closed-end bond funds," including taxable and tax-free products but is constantly looking for how to position its portfolio. "The positioning in terms of the sub-sectors of the bond market is much more important than the actual selection of the security," says Alpha Gen Capital, which wants to be in a section of the market that offers the best risk-adjusted return going forward. It adjusts the portfolio's target weights on a monthly basis to take advantage of where it sees the most upside. At the start of the year, the firm was heavily positioned in municipal bonds and high-yield products due to what it saw as "a rare, non-recessionary bear market." There was an opportunity to capture the decline in high-yield spreads and the tightening in closed-end fund discounts. Munis were "beaten down pretty significantly in the second half of last year." More recently, Alpha Gen Capital has been reducing high-yield exposure and moving it into mortgages. "During the next recession, we want to be centered primarily in the mortgage and muni spaces." It views this space safer even than investment grade because of over-leveraged corporate bonds. Topics covered: 2:15 minute mark - Tell us about your investing strategy. Why the emphasis on closedeend funds? 4:30 - What's your current positioning? 6:30 - Wouldn't mortgage products be sensitive to inflation? 8:00 - How do you select closed end funds? 12:30 - Key lessons learned. 14:00 - Prediction in bond markets for coming months 18:40 - What scares you about the markets right now? 22:30 - Picks 27:30 - Anything to avoid in the Muni space?