James Simons, a major donor for the Democratic Party and its presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, says presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is "not a good investment."
Simons explained that was his own personal opinion based on if you compare the presidential candidates using
the Sharpe ratio, a way of measuring average return while accounting for risk or volatility.
"Now even if those two candidates had the same expected return — which I doubt — but even if Trump's was as good as Hillary's, his volatility is so enormous that his Sharpe ratio is terrible,"
Simons told CNBC.
"So as an investment, Trump is not a good investment, no matter what you might think of his potential return. He's just a wild man," he said.
Simons said that he is a supporter of Clinton, who he said would "make a fine president." When asked what a Trump presidency would mean for the U.S. outlook, Simons said "it wouldn't be good for the country."
"I can't tell what the man will do because he's so erratic. As a businessman, he was apparently pretty sleazy. I just can't predict and maybe it would turn out OK, who knows," he concluded.
One very respected investing icon says it really doesn't matter who becomes the next president.
Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, has said a Trump presidency wouldn’t be the blow to U.S. business that some fear,
Bloomberg reported.
“If either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president, and one of them is very likely to be, I think Berkshire will continue to do fine,” Buffett, 85, said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
The outcome of November’s presidential election is unlikely to change the fact that the U.S. is a “remarkably attractive place in which to conduct a business,” said Buffett, who endorsed Democrat Clinton at an Omaha rally in December. U.S. companies have enjoyed “terrific” returns on equity despite a sustained period of ultra-low interest rates, he added.
Buffett, who has criticized Trump in the past and scorned politicians’ pessimism about the country, looked past the current voter angst for a longer view of U.S. economic prospects.
‘Far More’
“Twenty years from now, there’ll be far more output per capita in the United States in real terms than there is now. In 50 years, it’ll be far more,” Buffett said. “No presidential candidate or president is going to end that. They can shape it in ways that are good or bad, but they can’t end it.”
Asked how a Trump presidency might affect Berkshire’s business, Buffett replied, “That won’t be the main problem.” He didn’t elaborate.
(Newsmax wire services contributed to this report).
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