The Idea Farm
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Buy the World

Buy the World

+ Carlyle, Citi, Altimeter, Michael Mauboussin & More

The Idea Farm
September 27, 2026

“Even the world’s greatest business is not a good investment if the price is too high.”

— Lou Simpson

Research

AllianceBernstein - The Everything Trade (21 pages)

Inigo Fraser Jenkins examines how AI's demand for capital is linking asset classes and making portfolio diversification harder.

Morgan Stanley - To Free or Not to Free (Cash Flow) (23 pages)

Michael Mauboussin argues that negative free cash flow can be desirable, not a warning sign, as long as a company reinvests at returns above its cost of capital.

Carlyle - Rules of relevance (15 pages)

Carlyle examines how investors’ analytical frameworks can obscure risks across AI, credit, rates and deglobalization.

Citi - LatAm Poised for Take-Off (57 pages)

The authors argue Latin America has its best growth setup in decades as a weaker dollar, strong commodities, trade rewiring and improving policy frameworks align.

Source: Citi Research, World Bank

Deutsche Bank - MEGA II – Not done yet (41 pages)

Deutsche Bank argues Europe’s equity rerating has further to run, with Germany’s recovery still underappreciated. The US–Europe forward P/E gap has narrowed from 9.0x to 4.7x, while Europe offers broader sector diversification and Germany’s improving macro backdrop could support a further relative recovery.

Bonus Content

The IEA published a report covering how digital tools and AI can unlock hidden capacity in existing power grids. Link

Bloomberg's John Authers unpacks Peter Orszag's O-Ring Economy thesis, arguing that as global supply chains grow more complex, a single weak link can drag down the value of everything else. Link

S&P Dow Jones Indices' latest SPIVA U.S. Scorecard shows most active managers again trailed their benchmarks in the first half, with 67% of large-cap funds underperforming the S&P 500. Link

The Space Shuttle Challenger, Katrina and Surfside each got a real root-cause investigation. COVID still has not. Bill Gurley explains who stopped it, and why that leaves us unprepared for the next one (38 minutes). Link

Altimeter's Thomas Reiner updates his tracker showing tech stock-based compensation is diluting shareholders again. Link

Source: Altimeter. As of September 22, 2026

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