Bloomberg Talks AQR Founder & CIO Cliff Asness Talks Buying Opportunities
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Jun 3, 2025 
Cliff Asness, a quantitative investing pioneer and founder of AQR Capital Management, shares his insights on today's market conditions and potential buying opportunities. He discusses the balance between active management and indexing, using a humorous dart-throwing analogy to illustrate market unpredictability. Asness also examines the risks of private investments versus public equities, emphasizing the volatility of private markets. Additionally, he raises concerns about the impact of U.S. policies on the talent pool of international students in academia.
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AQR's Diversified Quant Approach
- AQR excels by diversifying bets widely, balancing about 2,000 longs and 2,000 shorts across countries and industries.
- Strong performance is driven by individual stock picking, trend following, and advanced techniques beyond traditional value investing.
Quant Investing Philosophy
- Quantitative investing shares philosophy with classic investing: focus on profitability, fundamentals, and reasonable valuation.
- Active picking is an "arrogant act," betting on specific outcomes, while quants bet on statistical averages.
Be Wary of Market Timing
- Market timing is extremely difficult; combining trend following and valuation may add slight value.
- Maintain a neutral stance on markets and embrace caution, as reliable pure timing skill is rare.