Steve Hou is a senior researcher for Bloomberg Index Research. His research covers systematic equity and multi-asset investment strategies. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he was a researcher of systematic equity strategies at AQR Capital Management LLC. Dr. Hou graduated with a PhD in financial economics from the University of Michigan in 2018. He previously completed graduate and undergraduate studies from ETH Zurich and the University of Virginia.
Charlie Munger famously said, “Buy great companies at a fair price.” An earnings inflection strategy flips this approach by identifying companies that are still losing money…but are steadily improving. The payoff has been anything but mediocre, with a $100 investment in the Bloomberg Inflection Leaders strategy in 2015 turning into $600 today. In this session, Steve will show why “less-bad” beats “already-good” when earnings trends inflect. He’ll explain how, when, and why it identified names like Uber Technologies, Robinhood Markets, and Carvana at the right junctures – and how it flipped to energy and industrials at the start of 2022, avoiding the worst drawdown in decades. Plus, he’ll explain why the resulting portfolio can deliver an orthogonal, asymmetric return profile that complements vanilla market beta.
