Billionaire John Calamos says he's bullish on stocks and the economy — and won't follow Warren Buffett off stage yet
John Calamos issued a cheery outlook for stocks and the economy, and ruled out following Warren Buffett in stepping down anytime soon.
The stock market is "coming back very, very well, so I'm pretty positive on that," the billionaire founder and chief investor of Calamos Investments told Business Insider this week.
The benchmark S&P 500 has rallied more than 23% from its April low to trade at record highs as of Friday morning.
Technology stocks like Tesla and Nvidia may be trading at heady valuations, but Calamos said he doesn't see any parallels to past bubbles such as the dot-com boom, which ended with a devastating crash.
Calamos said it's "very difficult to predict something like that's going to happen," so instead he focuses on setting up portfolios that provide protection against risks like that.
The convertible-bond pioneer said he expects volatility and uncertainty in markets to persist for a while, in part because President Donald Trump 's tariffs are clouding the global outlook. However, he expects those import taxes to eventually lead to better trade deals for the US that will be "positive, longer term."
Calamos also said the Trump administration's fiscal policy is "going in the right direction." The president's " big, beautiful bill" — which is working its way through Congress — proposes significant tax cuts funded in part by reduced spending on entitlement programs.
The veteran investor said he doesn't anticipate a recession, and inflation has "really come down," paving the way for more interest-rate cuts that promise to ease pressure on consumers and businesses and boost economic growth.
Buffett and retirement
Calamos started investing as a teenager, spent time working as a stockbroker, and quit to set up his own firm in 1977 after growing tired of being told what to do.
Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway almost a decade earlier, in 1965. Calamos said the "Oracle of Omaha" was firmly on his radar.
"Oh yeah, I respected him and what he was doing a lot," he said.
Buffett, who turns 95 in August, announced in May that he intends to step down as CEO at the end of this year. Calamos said he doesn't plan to leave his post anytime soon.
"Well, see, I'm not that old," he joked, pointing out that he's about a decade younger than Buffett. "I'm having a birthday next month, I'm going to call it the new 65."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Analog Devices' (NASDAQ:ADI) 16% CAGR outpaced the company's earnings growth over the same five-year period
Passive investing in index funds can generate returns that roughly match the overall market. But the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. For example, the Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) share price is 95% higher than it was five years ago, which is more than the market average. Zooming in, the stock is up just 3.8% in the last year. On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). During five years of share price growth, Analog Devices achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 4.2% per year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 14% per year, over the same period. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did five years ago. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth. This optimism is visible in its fairly high P/E ratio of 64.21. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). Dive deeper into Analog Devices' key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Analog Devices's earnings, revenue and cash flow. It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Analog Devices, it has a TSR of 114% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. Analog Devices shareholders gained a total return of 5.6% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 16% a year, over half a decade) look better. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Analog Devices better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Analog Devices you should be aware of. But note: Analog Devices may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Emerging-Markets Mavericks Target Regional Funds for Big Payoffs
In a banner year for emerging markets, the best returns have gone to investors who targeted regional indexes and ignored the Asia-heavy global benchmarks. While the most widely tracked gauge of developing-nation stocks, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, is beating the S&P 500 for the first time since 2017, returns for sub-indexes in Latin America and Eastern Europe are as much as four times higher. That's because the benchmark global indexes are dominated by companies in Asia, the region most impacted by President Donald Trump's tariff threats that has also been the biggest laggard in an otherwise extraordinary year for the asset class.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'Political suicide': Elon Musk slams Trump's megabill before critical Senate vote
WASHINGTON - Billionaire Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's former adviser on cutting government spending, fired off another set of attacks against the president's legislative package for potentially killing millions of jobs. Musk, the former head of the advisory Department of Government Efficiency, had quieted his harsh criticism of Trump and the legislation the week after his departure from government May 30. But he blasted the bill again on June 28 less than an hour before the Senate was prepared to hold a critical vote to begin debate. More: Live updates: It's go time for Senate on Trump's megabill. Do they have the votes? 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' Musk said on social media. 'Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.' Musk added in a later post that 'Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republican Party.' Musk is the owner of the social-media platform X, where he posted his messages to 220 million followers. He is also the CEO of Tesla, which manufactures electric vehicles, and SpaceX, which makes rockets to ferry people and supplies to the International Space Station. Musk trashed the legislation as a "disgusting abomination" for not cutting government spending enough. He also alleged Trump appeared in confidential Justice Department files about the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which the White House has denied. But Musk later apologized. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk said in a 3:04 a.m., June 11 post on X, without specifying which posts he was sorry about. Trump has blamed Musk's criticism on the president ending government subsidies for electric vehicles and rejecting the corporate executive's choice to head NASA. "Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump said in a Truth Social post. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk calls Senate bill 'political suicide' for destroying jobs
