primus

primus

I became interested in finance in 2010, when I began clerking at the CME. I was enthralled but, in hindsight, ill-equipped. The turning point was when I read Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor in 2012. Prior to this, if you had asked me then what moved markets, I might reply something about trends, volatilities, or correlations. Since 2012, I have increasingly subscribed to classical financial market theory (i.e., value matters; markets can be simultaneously efficient and irrational).

My journey took an unplanned turn in October 2014, when oil markets began to falter. I thought to myself, “Sub $70/bbl oil is going to result in panic and, with that, opportunity”. Several years later, but by which time the panic and opportunities had long subsided, I concluded that the market for energy equities was both over-valued (i.e., companies are generally valued to discount much higher energy prices) and (relative within that group) efficiently priced. Though I now admit that markets are more efficient than they seem, I used the experience to develop novel methods which are exceptionally well adapted to valuing equities of marginal and cyclical business models, where I believe relatively greater market inefficiency exists.

I launched my first factor-driven models in 2018. I plan to attend an MBA program and seek a CFA designation in the near future. I hope to launch an equity fund in the near future as well.

Investment Style
My style is a blend of classical quant and traditional value investing influences. The financial community might characterize my style as “P” quant (i.e., risky quant). My strongest belief is that value is never irrelevant. However, how value is measured is decidedly more susceptible to obsolescence since the overwhelming trend of the information age is that gains in information symmetry will lead shrinking pools of market inefficiency.