Barron’s All-Stars Sniff Out Bargains in Sky-High Market

(Bloomberg) -- Barron’s caught up with most of its all-star investor panel members to sniff out remaining bargains at a time when the U.S. stock market is at a record high and risks -- including trade conflicts, Federal Reserve policy and the 2020 presidential election -- are closing in.

Here’s what some of them are thinking, as reflected in the cover story of Barron’s July 15 issue.

• Todd Ahlsten, lead portfolio manager of the Parnassus Core Equity fund at San Francisco’s Parnassus Investments, picks Trimble Inc., which sells hardware and software for construction, agriculture, trucking and surveying and has a $50 billion addressable market. He’s also sticking with Nvidia Corp., a high-flying tech stock that plummeted since its October peak.
• Scott Black, founder and president of Delphi Management, says the market is really expensive but could go higher if the U.S. trade dispute with China is resolved. He recommends Kemet Corp., a leader in capacitors that’s trading at $18.13, down from $30 a year ago, and TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp., a diversified investment company.
• Abby Joseph Cohen, senior investment strategist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., says the U.S.-China trade war is contributing to lower capital spending and that a Fed interest rate cut won’t change that. The risk of another federal budget showdown also could hurt equities. Her picks: the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF, which is linked to the S&P Composite 1500 and can include small-cap and mid-cap stocks; Japanese auto-parts company Denso Corp.; and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co.
• Oscar Schafer, chairman of investment advisory company Rivulet Capital LLC, is sticking with picks from earlier in the year. He likes Ball Corp. and Crown Holdings Inc., aluminum can manufacturers benefiting from bad press about the environmental impact of plastic containers, as well as Sealed Air Corp., another packaging company, and discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc.
• Henry Ellenbogen, the former manager of T. Rowe Price New Horizons fund who recently left to form his own venture, says the 2020 election cycle stokes unpredictability. His picks include Vail Resorts Inc., which he says could move as high as $300 a share (from Friday’s $227.49), and real estate companies FirstService Corp., and Redfin Corp.
• Meryl Witmer, a general partner at the hedge fund Eagle Capital Partners, said equity valuations are “all over the place,” with bubbles in some stocks while industrial-type companies are “wallowing at low valuations.” She likes Morgan Stanley, Swiss-based cement producer LafargeHolcim Ltd. and Fox Corp., which was spun out of 21st Century Fox at the time of Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets.
• Geopolitical risks are high, and the easy pickings from globalization in creating a cheap labor force are mostly over, said William Priest, CEO of Epoch Investment Partners. His mid-year picks included gaming company MGM Resorts International and Centene Corp., a health insurer active in Medicaid and the Obamacare exchanges.

To contact the reporter on this story: Margaret Newkirk in Atlanta at mnewkirk@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Virginia Van Natta

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