Monthly April 2020: Peak COVID-19, Counting the Cost of the Lockdown, and Equity Screaming Buy!

Download PDF: Monthly_202004 With the COVID-19 already spreading globally for over two months now and stock market seems to have bottomed, investors are right to ask whether we are at the peak of COVID-19 infection rate. In this article, we discuss where we are in the COVID-19 crisis cycle, the implication on countries’ banking systemContinueContinue reading “Monthly April 2020: Peak COVID-19, Counting the Cost of the Lockdown, and Equity Screaming Buy!”

Research Note: A Look at Emerging Market Financials

Download PDF: A Look at EM Financials K List of Interesting EM Banks: EM Banks EM banks are relatively more interesting compared to its DM counterpart, especially European and Japanese banks, that have become a collateral damage from negative interest rate policy. EM firms are heavily underleveraged compared to its DM counterpart. Banks in Indonesia,ContinueContinue reading “Research Note: A Look at Emerging Market Financials”

February 2020: In-Depth Analysis of EM Equities Performance, Valuation and Sector Comparison

Download PDF: Monthly_202002 Part I: EM Equity Performance in the Past Decade In the past decade, investing in Emerging Markets equity has not been particularly rewarding for most investors. Much of it could be blamed to the weakness of EM currencies against the greenback, rather than lackluster earnings growth in EM countries. All EM economies,ContinueContinue reading “February 2020: In-Depth Analysis of EM Equities Performance, Valuation and Sector Comparison”

October 2019: 1st Anniversary of Putamen Capital

Download PDF: Monthly_201910 Risk and Return This month marks the 1st anniversary of Putamen Capital, with Putamen Growth Fund (PGF), our sole and flagship fund, recorded 34.15% return between October 24th, 2018 and September 30th, 2019. Since the inception, we have been exploring various type of equity, option and volatility strategy across developed and emergingContinueContinue reading “October 2019: 1st Anniversary of Putamen Capital”

Mexico: Reaching Cyclical Bottom

Download PDF: Mexico_Reaching_Cyclical_Bottom It is likely that Mexican economic condition will improve going forward. Various indicators are at level comparable to those in 2013 and 2016 downturn and monetary stimulus is currently on progress. The easing stance of global monetary policy and reflationary effort in China are further likely to ease domestic condition and benefitContinueContinue reading “Mexico: Reaching Cyclical Bottom”

Update on Brazil and South Africa

Download PDF: Brazil and South Africa Update Brazil’s economy is slowing, but positive development on pension reform has charged the market of late. Much of the positive development has been priced in and the risk of further slowdown in the economy is rising. Brazilian stocks are not cheap relative to EM overall, currently at itsContinueContinue reading “Update on Brazil and South Africa”

August 2019: The Long View, Turkey and Revisiting This Year Investment Thesis

Read in PDF: Monthly 201908 As bond yields continue to stumble globally, we expect that more SWF and pension fund will divert allocation from fixed income to both public and private equity, which would be a boon for the deepening of stock market globally. Holding developed countries’ government bond is a sure way of losingContinueContinue reading “August 2019: The Long View, Turkey and Revisiting This Year Investment Thesis”

An Overview of Russia: Oil, External Risk and The Banking Sector

Download PDF: The Linkage between Oil Price and The Russian Economy There is little sign that Russian economy is diversifying from energy production and exports in the last 20 years. The direct link and trickle-down effect of higher/lower oil prices to the economy result in an economy that is highly correlated with the global economicContinueContinue reading “An Overview of Russia: Oil, External Risk and The Banking Sector”

Lessons from Past Equity Market Responses During Periods of High Inflation

Download PDF: Market Responses During Periods of High Inflation Recent crisis in Argentina and Turkey have left me wonder, why does equity markets in local currency terms always corrects during periods of high inflation although in the medium-term corporates are able to maintain their margin through gradual increase of price of their products? My logicContinueContinue reading “Lessons from Past Equity Market Responses During Periods of High Inflation”

June 2019: Searching For The Tipping Point

Download PDF: Monthly_201906 Theme 1: Long Selected Undervalued Countries and Short U.S. Equities. This week U.S. PMI data shows a significant slowdown in the expansion of U.S. economy (manufacturing PMI 50.6 in May 2019 from 56 in the beginning of the year), raising the odds of undershoot of earnings forecast of U.S equities and theContinueContinue reading “June 2019: Searching For The Tipping Point”