Insights

As long-term investors, we think it is important to take the right message from the strong broad market returns in 2020. As we’ve often cautioned, extrapolating trends is a risky way to commit capital, particularly when these trends reflect an extraordinary operating environment like that in 2020.

While equity markets continued their rebound from the depths of the Covid-19 selloff, leadership shifted as signs of a “reflation” trade that emerged in September persisted.

Those who think it’s possible to predict the future of economies and markets with any sort of accuracy would have a hard time explaining 2020—a year dominated by a black swan event that descended u

While growth has outperformed value significantly since the global financial crisis, the two styles have traded leadership in recent decades and value has dominated over the long term.

At First Eagle, we subscribe to a notion once put forth by renowned investor Warren Buffet: “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.” By first defining the fundamental character of a business

The virus-related surge in unemployment has likely increased the share of households at risk of falling short in retirement.

While growth stocks have continued to outperform, their market values in most cases have increased at a far greater rate than their revenue and cash flow.

Though China fell into the first economic contraction in its modern history as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has rebounded markedly and looks poised to be one of the few countries to post G

Matt McLennan, head of First Eagle’s Global Value team, appeared on Fox Business to talk about the parallels between the 1960's and now, most notably in the fundamtenal transition in the currency markets.

The integration of emerging markets into the global economy in recent decades has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

“Don’t fight the Fed.” This old adage has been proven right over many short time periods, second quarter 2020 the most recent among them.

Entering 2020 there were a variety of indicators—including massive sovereign and corporate debt balances, the continued debasement of man-made money, and heightened political tensions.

Portfolio Managers Matthew McLennan, Kimball Brooker and Matt Lamphier discussed recent market volatility and what may lie ahead.

Investors initially downplayed news of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, and equity indexes continued to press higher for the first weeks of 2020 as they did for much of 2019, led by growth-

Though equity indexes have bounced off their worst levels of 2020, Matt McLennan, head of First Eagle’s Global Value team, appeared on Bloomberg TV to caution that the full impact of the pandemic’s “gut punch” to the world economy may yet to be fully appreciated by markets.

First the virus now the volatility. What’s next?

The coronavirus outbreak represents a significant shock to both supply and demand in China and is likely to have repercussions for both Chinese and global economic growth.

Watch Matt McLennan alongside Evercore ISI's Ed Hyman as they discuss what has changed in financial markets over the last year and what that means for the US and Global economies.

At First Eagle, we’ve long held that the United States does not have a monopoly on good companies. While we think most market participants would agree with this sentiment, asset allocation data suggest US investors in general continue to be significantly underexposed to international equities relative to their share of the global opportunity set.

Though the current business cycle—the longest in US history—is showing signs of age, the potential timing of and impetus for its end remain uncertain.

The long-simmering trade dispute between the US and China has intensified in recent days.

It’s by design that companies in Matthew McLennan’s portfolios aren’t exactly those that set investors’ hearts racing with excitement. “We’re happy to own businesses with what we consider a gradual positive drift to them,” he says. In this article, Matthew McLennan and Kimball Brooker describe how they assess “fade risk” in a number of industries, what makes them uneasy about the state of the world today, why their exposure to gold is higher than normal, and why they see mispriced value in Fanuc, Orkla, Schlumberger, Jardine Matheson and Weyerhaeuser.

Investors and consultants frequently ask for the Global Value team’s views on sustainable investing. While we do not offer strategies that focus in this area, we do pay close attention to issues of sustainability because they may be a key to a company’s resilience over the long term. Some investors see the energy sector as the antithesis of sustainability, but we see things differently. In this interview, Benj Bahr, energy-sector analyst on the Global Value team, explains why.

First Eagle’s Global Value team has adopted the value investment philosophy first developed by Benjamin Graham and later refined by Warren Buffett.

We believe that First Eagle Funds are a natural fit for defined contribution plans because we believe in the key tenets of successful retirement plan investing. Our funds have distinctive risk/reward characteristics, and they have performed well in some periods when other investments were struggling.

Rising volatility spurs many investors to sell indiscriminately and, in particular, to flee stocks they see as underperformers. This fear-driven flight may send share prices down into bargain territory, where value investors can acquire them.