Long-time market commentator and stock picker Rick Pendergraft sits down with Seeking Alpha's Jonathan Liss to discuss his approach to investing and the current macro environment. Rick believes in a 3-pronged approach of fundamental, technical and sentiment analysis to ensure all of his investment picks are built on a strong foundation. It's an approach he references regularly in his newly-launched Marketplace service, The Hedged Alpha Strategy.
Topics covered:
2:10 - Rick’s background as an investor and his investing heroes
4:25 - Laying out a holistic approach to investing - the 3-pronged stool of fundamental, technical and sentiment analysis
6:55 - The macro picture: When the underlying fundamentals and sentiment diverge
8:50 - Rick’s research process broken down - it all starts with fundamentals
10:50 - Short interest ratio as a leading sentiment ratio
15:15 - How important is institutional ownership as a sentiment indicator
17:05 - Rick’s biggest successes and failures and as investor and what those experiences taught him
21:45 - Using options vs. leveraged and inverse ETFs as a portfolio hedge with the recent sell-off and rebound as a case in point
26:20 - Risks of using leveraged ETFs
28:20 - Slowing economic growth in the U.S. and China and the prospects for a trade agreement (with some discussion of Apple’s (AAPL) position in China specifically)
33:15 - The global geopolitical picture as well as gridlock in Washington is creating uncertainty in markets
35:15 - The current interest rate environment and what that means for the outlook for equities broadly speaking in 2019
42:10 - The case for SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG)
46:35 - Contemplating the case for Paypal (PYPL)
49:10 - A final look at the macro environment through the lens of consumer confidence readings
