Noah Hamman, AdvisorShares CEO, joins Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi to discuss what’s moving the markets following Friday’s opening bell.
Video Transcript
BRIAN SOZZI: OK. Our friend Noah Hamman from Advisor Shares joins us now. Noah, well, we’ve been picking your brain all year long on what to trade and what not to trade ahead of the election. Well, the election is here. So what are– what are some of your final trades?
NOAH HAMMAN: Well, so a few weeks back when we talked, we talked about hedging in to this election and getting nervous. Honestly, the market turndown came probably a few days earlier than I expected. I thought, you know, people working behind the scenes, maybe the Fed or maybe someone else would want to have the market a little bit more positive going into November 3.
But we’re seeing it happen already, that the market’s getting nervous. You’re seeing people take risk off. And I think that’s what investors need to do. We’re still in the middle of a global pandemic. So going to cash or going to inverse equities is gonna be a great place to look for opportunities in your portfolio.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Noah, I want to talk about your take on cannabis stocks right now because on November 3, legalizing marijuana either for recreational or medicinal use will be on a ballot in six states.
NOAH HAMMAN: Right.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: What do you do with cannabis stocks right now? Let’s say you’re not even in them, you want some exposure, do you wait to see how that all plays out? Do you get in now in the days just before voters go and vote?
NOAH HAMMAN: I think it depends on your risk tolerance, but we’re big fans of it. So I think you go in now. I think those are the stocks that are gonna carry for the long term.
So I saw that interview you had with the governor of New Jersey. And so he’s a perfect example of states are looking for those opportunities. And thankfully, he said the right thing about, you know, social justice being the primary reason to look at legalization. But obviously, the tax benefits for these states are gonna be critical.
So I would just tell investors, though, to be careful. You see a lot of companies like Aurora or Canopy sort of as the poster child stocks for the cannabis space, but they have struggled so much. They’re Canadian cannabis companies, and they haven’t done well at all.
So you want to look at the US operators or multi-state operators. We– we have a product– the ticker symbol’s MSOS– and that’s what it focuses in on. So two companies that– to consider would be a company like a Curaleaf.
That’s our top holding US operator. Or maybe a Cresco Labs. Two companies to think of in that space.
BRIAN SOZZI: So, Noah, you said– you suggest to raise cash into the election, but do you think of infrastructure– the infrastructure sector could be a winner no matter who wins the White House?
NOAH HAMMAN: I think so. I think in both instances. Biden’s gonna be very aggressive about that. I think Trump’s gonna try to do anything he can to get jobs going, get the market back going.
So I– I see infrastructure being a great opportunity going– You know, after the next election cycle. It’s OK to sit out the volatility, I think, for that for now. But definitely, I see that as a place to be in 2021.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: What are you staying away from, just absolutely staying away from until you understand the outcome of this election?
NOAH HAMMAN: I’m probably mostly staying away from anything except for, you know, tech and then, you know, vice or cannabis, right? Even broadly vice. People see that as, you know, broadly recession proof.
Our own [? vice ?] strategy’s up 8.5% this year so it’s whether the market will, keeping in mind the S&P’s only up, you know, probably less now. But I know a couple of days ago, only up 2.5% in the All Country World Index. So just a benchmark of how your global portfolio is doing is still flat this year.
So those are the kind of companies that we like. We certainly like tech. You know, we know that some of those companies are struggling today. We know Apple’s struggling a little bit.
We talked about that two weeks ago. They might have a couple of bad quarters. They’re gonna be just fine. Holding those in your portfolio, maybe buying on the dips, if you have some cash available, is a smart decision, I think.
BRIAN SOZZI: Pretty much across the board, Noah, a lot of these big cap tech companies reported yesterday slowing growth. And in the case of Apple, sales were down in China. Which name would you gravitate towards?
NOAH HAMMAN: Well, so I might wait if you don’t have to put money into work right now. But I like Apple because of the 5G. We talked about that last time as well, that I think there’s gonna be a lot of people upgrading their phones.
And– and the thing that I probably found out since we’ve last talked is that maybe it’s questionable, the type of speed that you’re actually gonna get on that Apple 5G phone. But I think nonetheless, you’re gonna see a lot of people upgrading. So maybe a weak quarter or two here and there, but that’s still gonna continue to be a strong company.
They’re gonna sell more products. So I would buy on any dip opportunity. And I wouldn’t see– feel a strong need to sell that position if I had it today.
ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: What are you doing with the oil sector right now, which has been a– a big topic of conversation when it comes to the election, in particular, each candidate’s stance on fracking? Do you hold off, I mean, on energy? We heard from Exxon Mobil and Chevron today and how difficult this pandemic has been for the big oil giants.
NOAH HAMMAN: I think so. You know, they’ve started to level out. We’ve seen this year– earlier this year, that was absolutely not the place to be. But I kind of lump them into my infrastructure exposure, right?
So I’m gonna put energy companies in that space as well. We’ve seen huge run-ups in the clean energy space. So I think there’s an ETF out there called TAN that focuses in on solar energy. That’s been up significantly.
That feels like it’s run up a little bit too high when you look at the clean energy space and the kind of money that needs to be put into the system for them to grow and see the kind of profitability they want to see in– in adoption. So I think, you know, traditional energy and oil companies, as we looked for the infrastructure opportunity to grow, will still be a pretty good place to be, I think.
BRIAN SOZZI: So, Noah, let’s say come Election Day, you’re watching all day the Yahoo Finance and Yahoo News election coverage, and it starts to seem like Joe Biden is going to win the White House. What are the– what are the trades you get ready to put on that next morning?
NOAH HAMMAN: So that’s probably the one where, I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m most nervous just from a market perspective, right? It looks like he’s gonna win. We’ll see what happens.
And I think that’s probably not gonna be great for the stock market. Certainly initially and then maybe a little bit over time. I do think it’ll be great for the economy, right? I think he will be very aggressive about investing in the infrastructure.
And that will mean jobs. And that’ll mean putting people back to work. And I think that will be great.
But you’ll see a president probably less focused on the markets as a measure of success. And you talk about, you know, some of the things that are going on relative to where taxes might be. You could see a lot of tax-related selling going into year end. So, you know, a Biden victory doesn’t get me nervous about the economy but gets me nervous about the market.
BRIAN SOZZI: Well, Noah, get your cannabis gummies ready. It’s gonna be a long night. Always–
NOAH HAMMAN: I will.
BRIAN SOZZI: Al– yeah. Always good to speak with you. Noah, Hamman from Advisor Shares, good to see you.
NOAH HAMMAN: Thank you.
