White Papers | September 07, 2016

An Investment Only a Mother Could Love

The Case for Natural Resource Equities

Executive Summary:

  • We believe the prices of many commodities will rise in the decades to come due to growing demand and the finite supply of cheap resources.
  • Public equities are a great way to invest in commodities and allow investors to:
    • Gain commodity exposure in a cheap, liquid manner
    • Harvest the equity risk premium
    • Avoid negative yields associated with rolling some futures contracts
  • Resource equities provide diversification relative to the broad equity market, and the diversification benefits increase over longer time horizons.
  • Resource equities have not only protected against inflation historically, but have actually significantly increased purchasing power in most inflationary periods.
  • Due to the uncertainty surrounding, and the volatility of, commodity prices, many investors avoid resource equities. Hence, commodity producers tend to trade at a discount, and they have outperformed the broad market historically.
  • While resource equities are volatile and exhibit significant drawdowns in the short term, over longer periods of time, resource equities have actually been remarkably safe investments.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed are the views of Lucas White and Jeremy Grantham through the period ending September 2016, and are subject to change at any time based on market and other conditions. This is not an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security and should not be construed as such. References to specific securities and issuers are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be, and should not be interpreted as, recommendations to purchase or sell such securities.
Copyright © 2016 by GMO LLC. All rights reserved.
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