Buy-side investors from Deutsche Bank Securities, Integral Capital, Prism and RAM
Wall Street has two sides: the sell-side that “sell” new stocks from young IPO companies for example; and the the buy-side, financial companies like hedge funds that buy those stocks.
This morning at a panel hosted at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit in Half Moon Bay, Calif., “buy-side” investors were quite sanguine about the state of the market.
“It’s the worst time I’ve ever seen since the mid 70s,” said RAM’s general partner, Jeff Matthews who also wrote a book about Warren Buffet recommending all executives to make the trip or “pilgrimage” to meet with the Omaha, Neb., based star investor.
One fundamental rule to keep in mind in this tough time: cash is king!
“There’s no space to hide in this market. Investors are keeping their cash on the sideline. But I think selling has dried up and we should be seeing some cash flowing back into equities,” adds Leslie Phrang, a managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities.
Valuations have to go down more
Looking at the public markets, buy-side investors were unanimous to call for public companies valuations to come down more over the next year despite a precipitous fall of stock prices.
“I think the number has not come down enough. At the same time, there are very high quality companies trading at steep discount,” comments John Rende, a partner at Prism Partners.
Jean-Baptiste Su
Mark Boslet
December 2, 2008 at 1:37 pm |
Overall a great event! But I can’t help commenting about Mr. Matthews. What a snarky jerk! Upgrade the panel next year please.
December 8, 2008 at 5:05 pm |
Why? I haven’t talked to him directly but he seems knowledgeable. No?