By one metric, value stocks have been mired in a bear market for the past two years.
If the correction somewhat muddled his stock-market views, his latest call for a separate corner of the market is unmistakably bullish. He's calling the end of a two-year bear market for the value factor, which screens stocks that are trading at low prices relative to their fundamental value. Harvey's conviction in the value style is driven by what he observes as an inflection point for the factor. Specifically, the median book-to-price ratio of"cheap" and"expensive" stocks rose last year to the highest levels dating since 2011, as the chart below shows. In other words,"expensive" stocks were trading at such a rich premium that Harvey spotted an opportunity for bargain hunters to swoop in on their value counterparts.