Alpha Trader #1: Talking markets with Eddy Elfenbein

Eddy Elfenbein runs the must-read Crossing Wall Street blog and is portfolio manager for the AdvisorShares Focused Equity ETF (CWS). Elfenbein is notable for creating a Buy List of 25 stocks to get into at the start of the year, and then sticking with those names for the next 52 weeks. Also notable: Said list has topped the return of the S&P 500 for 13 straight years, and is set to do so again in 2019. In this initial episode for Alpha Trader, hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher talk markets with Elfenbein. To preview: With the S&P 500 possessing a yield well above nearly the entirety of the Treasury yield curve, Elfenbein has a hard time finding a reason to be bearish. Checking the 2019 Buy List, Ross Stores (ROST) is among the stronger performers with a 34% gain. Elfenbein describes the company as very well-run, with management that tends to disappoint with guidance, and then thrill with actual results. Eagle Bancorp (EGBN) is having a rough run (down 13%), but Elfenbein remains a bull. Hurting the stock, says Elfenbein, are overblown worries about the bank's tangental connection to a financial scandal. Among other topics covered is the implosion in WeWork (WE), and what that might mean for the markets. Far from the indication of a bubble, says Elfenbein, the WeWork saga may point to very healthy times. He reminds of a couple of decades ago when companies with no indication of any sort of real business model were coming public at multi-billion dollar valuations. Now that was a bubble.