Trends Watch: Global Long/Short Equity Investing

EisnerAmper’s Trends Watch is a weekly entry to our Alternative Investments Intelligence blog, featuring the views and insights of executives from alternative investment firms. If you’re interested in being featured, please contact Elana Margulies-Snyderman.   

This week, Elana talks with Christian Putz, Founder & CEO, ARR Investment Partners.  

What is your outlook for global long/short equity investing? 

We are highly optimistic about the current environment for global long/short equity investing. In a bull market, everyone appears to be an investment genius, and ETFs tend to be the preferred investment vehicle. However, in the event of a prolonged bear market—similar to the early 2000s—investors will begin to value strong risk management and downside protection. As Warren Buffett famously said, "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked." 

Where do you see the greatest opportunities and why? 

On the long side, we’re currently seeing significant value in gold mining stocks—particularly those with strong balance sheets, low valuations, and clear leverage to the sharply rising gold price. These companies have largely been overlooked and are now benefiting from both macro tailwinds and improving fundamentals.  

On the short side, we’re focused on legacy media businesses that are being structurally disrupted by generative AI tools in image and video production. These companies often still trade based on outdated assumptions, creating attractive asymmetry for us. Additionally, several companies in the U.S. and Europe could face significant challenges if current tariffs remain in place. 

What are the greatest challenges you face and why? 

Staying focused and agile in an environment flooded with macro narratives is a constant challenge. It’s easy to get distracted by noise or consensus thinking. The real work is filtering out what truly matters to our strategy—and being willing to adapt when the facts change. 

What keeps you up at night? 

Mostly position sizing and the risk of overconfidence. Even with a disciplined, rules-based framework, human judgment plays a role. We’re always stress-testing the system, not just the portfolio. 

The views and opinions expressed above are of the interviewee only, and do not/are not intended to reflect the views of EisnerAmper.