Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC on Wednesday that he believes the stock market will struggle to generate meaningful returns in the coming years, following the robust recovery from pandemic-era lows over the past 10 months.
“I think the short-term outlook is probably okay. Long-term, I think we’ll borrow from the future,” Cooperman said of “Squawk Box.”
“Whenever you bought something on the market and it sold a multiple of, say, 22 times or more right now, you never really made serious money in one year, three years, five years later. those are watching, ”added the chairman of the Omega Family Office.
The Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy, along with aggressive fiscal stimulus from Congress, in response to the pandemic, is simply “pouring more fuel into the fire” on Wall Street, Cooperman said.
“There’s a significant portion of the market today that reigns in euphoria. You see 50% price changes. You see an SPAC for a minute. Those are things that ring the bell,” said Cooperman.
While researching the market, Cooperman said his approach is “seeking value”. He added, “I am concerned in the long run because I think the policies we are pursuing are unsustainable.”
“We have this push-pull. We have the push of a very, very similar fiscal and monetary policy. That’s hard to fight at the moment,” said Cooperman, just hours before President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, will be sworn in. . office.
“Then we have the pull of a new government” that will likely pursue policies such as higher corporate taxes and more regulation, he said, adding that he believes those policies could hurt the stock market. “It’s a less businesslike, less business friendly environment,” he predicted.
Cooperman, a frequent critic of progressive Democrats and outgoing President Donald Trump in the past, said he voted for Biden in November, even if it was “against my own economic interests.” Instead, he said he agreed with “my values, and my values were not with President Trump.”