A guranteed way to lose money: listen to so-called experts. Barrons is a pretty reputable magazine in investment community. I read them, but I don’t listen to them. Here is an example: the reporting card of Barrons Roundtable 2008. Every year (Jan) Barrons will assembly a group of experts, from famous money managers to analysts such as Bill Gross (Pimco) to Abey Cohen (Goldman Sachs), discussing the outlook of the year, and each expert will share some picks.
Here is an example how things go terribly wrong (I hope no one copied his strategy).
ARCHIE MacALLASTER’S Picks
PRICE
Company Ticker 1/4/08 12/31/08 Change
Fidelity National Information Svc ** FIS $39.87 $16.27 -22.2%
Hanmi Financial HAFC 7.44 2.06 -72.3
Bank of America BAC 39.85 14.08 -64.7
Lincoln National LNC 54.67 18.84 -65.5
VeriFone Holdings PAY 18.50 4.90 -73.5
Chesapeake Energy CHK 39.32 16.17 -58.9
Hartford Financial HIG 82.95 16.42 -80.2
And another one
ART SAMBERG’S Picks
PRICE
Company Ticker 1/4/08 12/31/08 Change
Ultra Petroleum UPL $71.81 $34.51 -51.9%
MEMC Electronic Materials WFR 81.40 14.28 -82.5
Qualcomm QCOM 37.03 35.83 -3.2
Focus Media FMCN 55.71 9.09 -83.7
Dogan Yayin DYHOL.Turkey 4.44 TRL 0.66 TRL -85.1
America Movil AMX $58.44 $30.99 -47.0
Brazilian Home Builders
Brascan Res. Prop BISA3.Brazil 11.25 BRL 2.47 BRL -78.0
Gafisa GFA $34.59 $9.26 -73.2