Individual Gurus

Each year, Forbes calculates the performance of columnist recommendations assuming: (1) equal initial investments in each stock pick when published; (2) 1% trading friction for each purchase; and, (3) matching benchmark investments in the S&P 500 Index for each pick with no trading friction. Because matching benchmark investments are spread across the year, the benchmark performance is not the same as the annual performance of the S&P 500 Index. In his column for the February 27, 2012 issue of Forbes, Ken Fisher reports the performance of the recommendations made in his column during 2011, as follows: “In 2011 my 63 investment recommendations lagged the S&P 500 for the fourth time in the 16 years FORBES has done a formal accounting of columnists’ picks.” More exactly, using the data in the 13 annual performance summary columns for 1998 through 2011 (columns for 1996 and 1997 are apparently unavailable online), we find that: More…

As suggested by readers, we evaluate here Douglas Kass’ outlooks for the U.S. stock market since mid-2006 as extracted from his Seabreeze Partners blog. Douglas Kass is founder and President of Seabreeze Partners Management, Inc., which “specializes in the management of alternative investment products.” He writes regularly for TheStreet.com (apparently the source of blog articles) and appears frequently on CNBC. The table below quotes forecast highlights from the cited source and shows the performance of the S&P 500 Index over various numbers of trading days after the publication date for each item. Grading takes into account more detailed market behavior when appropriate. Red plus (minus) signs to the right of specific forecasts indicate those graded right (wrong) based on subsequent market behavior, while red zeros denote any complex forecasts graded both right and wrong. We conclude that: More…

A reader asked: “Have you had the opportunity to evaluate Charles Nenner as an equity and commodities forecaster?” Charles Nenner is self-described as “the talk of Wall Street since accurately predicting some of the biggest moves in the Markets over the past few years.” In his July 2007 discussion of the “Nenner Methodology at the Bloomberg Studio”, Charles Nenner cites sunspot activity as a specific key indicator for equity returns. Is there any reliable relationship between sunspot activity and stock market returns? Using monthly averages of daily sunspot counts from the Solar Influences Data Analysis Center and monthly closing levels of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) for September 1928 through September 2011 (997 months) and the S&P 500 Index for January 1950 through September 2011 (741 months), we find that: More…

John P. Hussman, Ph.D, president of Hussman Investment Trust, describes his market timing approach as follows: “The key elements in evaluating securities and market conditions are ‘valuations’ and ‘market action.’ Each unique combination of these conditions results in a distinct Market Climate, with its own profile of expected return and risk.” His investment approach, as applied to funds such as Hussman Strategic Growth (HSGFX), is to “align our investment position with the prevailing Market Climate and shift that position when sufficient evidence of a Climate shift emerges.” Does this fund demonstrate good market timing? Using weekly dividend-adjusted returns for HSGFX during 11/21/00 (the earliest available) through 9/30/11 (565 weekly returns), along with contemporaneous weekly returns for several benchmarks, we find that:

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A reader suggested that we review the stock market commentary of Mark Hulbert, editor of the Hulbert Financial Digest, which tracks the recommendations of a wide range of investing newsletters. He is also a regular columnist at MarketWatch. Because Mark Hulbert uses his Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment Index (HSNSI) as a principal quantitative tool in formulating his market outlook, we evaluate the usefulness of that index in predicting stock market returns rather than his qualitative commentary. HSNSI “reflects the average recommended stock market exposure among a subset of short-term market timers tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest.” Mark Hulbert presents HSNSI as a contrarian signal for future stock returns; when HSNSI is high (low), he views the outlook for stocks as generally bearish (bullish). Using a sample of 262 values of HSNSI over the period 7/22/02-8/18/11 (generated by searching MarketWatch.com for “HSNSI” and its predecessor “HSSI”) and contemporaneous daily closes of the S&P 500 Index, we find that: More…

As suggested by a reader, we evaluate here the public stock market forecasts of Peter Eliades since late 2002. Evaluated predictions/recommendations come indirectly via MarketWatch columns, which have reported his commentary sporadically in recent years. Peter Eliades is editor of Stock Market Cycles. His “approach to the market is based on the theory that stock prices move as a result of a combination of cyclical forces. The theory contends that the major trends of stocks and stock averages are determined by fundamentals which affect a stock or a stock average smoothly. The trend is sideways, up or down at varying angles, and is subject to change when fundamentals change. These smooth fundamental trends are affected by cycles and the cycles are most important for market timing because they repeat with a good degree of regularity. At any one time there are theoretically scores of cycles acting simultaneously on the market, making analysis a more difficult process than a simple breakdown of mathematical formulas.” The table below quotes forecast highlights from the cited source and shows the performance of the S&P 500 Index over various numbers of trading days after the publication date for each item. Grading takes into account more detailed market behavior when appropriate. Red plus (minus) signs to the right of specific forecasts indicate those graded right (wrong) based on subsequent market behavior, while red zeros denote any complex forecasts graded both right and wrong. We conclude that: More…

Do individual experts whose U.S. stock market forecasting records are good (bad) gain (lose) attention? The “pro” argument is that investors (and online intermediaries) eventually flock to good forecasters and ignore bad ones in search of a market timing edge. The “con” arguments are that loud noise (for example, marketing-related or entertainment-driven) swamps information, and/or investors do not or cannot measure forecaster accuracy, and/or investors are more interested in ideas than forecasts. As a simple test these arguments, we compare two data series: (1) the stock market forecasting accuracies of gurus in the Guru Grades summary table; and, (2) the attention paid to these same individuals as measured by the number of search results found by a Google query on (“[guru name]” “stock market”), with the “stock market” qualifier intended to filter out potential namesakes and connect each name to the forecasted variable. Using results from searches for 60 individually graded gurus on 7/20/11, we find that: More…

A reader suggested Condor Options as a guru for review. To conduct a review, we evaluate the Condor Options Newsletter Performance table of iron condor trades (with a few hedging trades) available via the Condor Options Performance self-assessment. This table includes entry and exit dates, trade duration, specific positions/strike prices, initial value (credit), total amount risked (Real Risk), final value (credit), final value as a percentage of amount risked (% Return), risk-adjusted trade size, return on investment (Trade ROI) and cumulative value of a $1,000 initial investment (VAMI). The initial and final trade values account for bid-ask spread by sampling actual fill quotes, but they do not account for broker trading commissions. This evaluation accepts the basic premises of performance assessment as presented in the table. Using the Condor Options Newsletter Performance table as of the end of June 2011, covering closed trades from initial position entry on 5/11/07 through 6/10/11 (162 trades), we find that: More…

As suggested by a reader, we evaluate here Gary Savage’s outlooks for the U.S. stock market since May 2007 as extracted from his current Smart Money Tracker blog (since March 2010) and its predecessor site. While Gary Savage states that his “main goal…for the next few years will be to keep investors focused on riding the secular gold bull,” he also promises to “monitor cycles, money flows and sentiment in the stock market.” However, he does “strenuously suggest that you don’t waste your time or capital trying to trade the stock market.” The table below quotes forecast highlights from the cited source and shows the performance of the S&P 500 Index over various numbers of trading days after the publication date for each item. Grading takes into account more detailed market behavior when appropriate. Red plus (minus) signs to the right of specific forecasts indicate those graded right (wrong) based on subsequent market behavior, while red zeros denote any complex forecasts graded both right and wrong. We conclude that: More…

At the suggestion of a reader, we began tracking on 5/4/06 the intermediate-term stock market outlooks of Steve Todd. Steve Todd is founder of the Todd Market Forecast, which states: “For the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, The Todd Market Forecast was rated #1 for the preceding ten years [by Timer Digest]. For the year 2006, we slipped to #3 and in 2007, we were ranked #5.” His short-term and intermediate-term stock market outlooks are available on a weekly basis at Decision Point. His outlooks are clear and binary, bullish (buy) or bearish (sell). Because Decision Point offers no historical archives, accumulation of recorded switches between these two outlooks is slow. During 5/4/06 through 7/12/11, he has changed his intermediate-term outlook 22 times. Using closing levels of the S&P 500 Index on signal change dates to assess these switches, we find that: More…