CNBC Television Notify me• Oct 13, 2025• 6:23Interview

Oaktree Capital's Howard Marks: Valuations right now are high, but not crazy

Howard Marks(Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, Oaktree Capital, guest)

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Executive Summary

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Market Valuation and Bubble Psychology The Challenge of Valuing Transformational Technology

5 quotes

Concerns Raised

The S&P 500's P/E ratio is significantly above its historical average, indicating the market is expensive.
The bull case for current valuations relies on a "this time it's different" narrative, which is often a red flag.
It is difficult to apply traditional valuation methodologies to new, high-growth technologies like AI.

Opportunities Identified

AI is a legitimately transformational technology that will likely create substantial long-term value.
The dominant companies in the S&P 500 may be qualitatively superior to those of the past, potentially justifying higher valuations.
The absence of widespread 'mania' suggests the market may not be in a bubble, allowing for continued upside.

Key Themes

Research Findings5

Howard Marks does not believe the current market enthusiasm for AI has reached the level of "mania" or psychological excess required to be classified as a market bubble.

The price-to-earnings ratio for the S&P 500 is approximately 24 based on forward earnings, which is significantly higher than its historical average of 16.

Howard Marks believes the S&P 500 is currently expensive when compared to its historical valuation metrics.

Howard Marks described the bull case for the S&P 500, which argues that its current high valuation multiples are justified because its constituent companies are of a higher quality than in the past.

Howard Marks believes it is difficult to apply traditional discounted present value analysis to determine the intrinsic worth of AI companies due to their highly conjectural, long-term potential.

Topics

Market Valuation S&P 500 P/E Ratio AI Investing Tech Stocks Investor Psychology Market Bubbles Dot-com Bubble Value Investing Intrinsic Value Discounted Cash Flow (DCF)Howard Marks Market Sentiment This Time It's Different Growth Investing

Processed Apr 20, 2026Daily intelligence brief → yt-dlp + mlx-whisper + Gemini

Oaktree Capital's Howard Marks: Valuations right now are high, but not crazy

Continue your research

Concerns Raised

Opportunities Identified

Key Themes

Market Valuation and Bubble Psychology

The Challenge of Valuing Transformational Technology

The "This Time It's Different" Narrative

Pragmatic vs. Dogmatic Value Investing

Research Findings5

Topics