Investing in stocks and shares … it's a game of cat and mouse

How to invest in 2012? We asked investors, and Orlando the cat, for their shares picks. The choices included handbags and supermarkets
Jill Insley and Lisa Bachelor
The Observer, Saturday 31 December 2011 22.59 GMT

The Observer has asked groups of investors to select five stocks from the FTSE All Share they believe will perform best over the next year, and to explain their choices with the aim of tracking their performance. Given that the market, economy and political background are so unpredictable, we are allowing them to change some, or all, of their choices once every three months and we will update readers on the progress of their portfolios.

The professional team

Stockbrokers tips for 2012: left to right, Justin Urquhart, Paul Caviar and
Andy Brough. Photograph: Antonio Zazueta Olmos

They point to recent positive indicators from the US, saying that an upturn in its economy is usually followed first, by the UK, and then, Europe.

They have selected companies that are producing a good performance, but which have not yet been recognised by the market, in the hope of benefitting from capital appreciation – a rise in the share price.

Their portfolio
British Gas
GlaxoSmithKline
Elementis
Avon Rubber
Imagination Technologies

The students

Students at John Warner School make stock tips to see if they can beat the
professionals. Photograph: Antonio Zazueta Olmos

11 pupils from years 11 to 13 at The John Warner School in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, who were wittled down from a group of around 30 after competing to make the best case for their stock choice.

The school was recently awarded the Personal Finance Education Group's Centre of Excellence Award for its financial education lessons for all students aged seven to 11. Its efforts have clearly paid off, with more than one self-confessed budding stockbroker in its midst.

Their portfolio
Mulberry
WM Morrison
Savills
British American Tobacco
Cable & Wireless

Orlando the wild cat

Selecting shares comes easily to Orlando the cat, who is feline fine about
his stock picks for 2012


Orlando comes from a rural background, but moved to London at the age of eight weeks and has shown considerable interest in the trappings of wealth ever since.

The two-year-old is a regular user of the Financial Times, finding its pages make a perfect bed for his mid-afternoon snooze. Despite his young age, he is quite an old paw at stock-picking. An early interest in Dairy Crest waned after his milk teeth dropped out, but he is still keen on Rentokil, sharing a common interest in pest control.

In fact, Orlando has used his favourite toy mouse to help with stock selection. We created a randomly numbered grid, with each number allocated to a FTSE All Share stock. Orlando threw his mouse about and the 10 squares it fell on are his portfolio.

He is quite blasé about his chances of winning, claiming that his portfolio is purrfect. Orlando could just pull the (Persian) rug from under his rivals.

His portfolio
Hill & Smith Holdings
WM Morrison
RSM Tenon
Scottish American Investment Co
Spirax Sarco Engineering

...more at link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/de ... hares-game

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Investments: Orlando is the cat's whiskers of stock picking

Ginger moggy beats the professionals and a team of students in the Observer's share portfolio challenge
Mark King
The Observer, Sunday 13 January 2013


Orlando's share-picking skills were purr-fect. Photograph: Jill Insley

The Observer's panel of stock-picking professionals has been undone in our 2012 investment challenge by a ginger feline called Orlando who spent time paw-ing over the FT.

The challenge raised the question of whether the professionals, with their decades of knowledge, could outperform novice students of finance – or whether a random selection of stocks chosen by Orlando could perform just as well as experienced investors.

The result indicates that the "random walk hypothesis", popularised in economist Burton Malkiel's book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, is perhaps truer than we thought. Burkiel's book explores the idea that share prices move completely at random, making stock markets entirely unpredictable.

"It's time to crack open the Whiskas," said a good-humoured Justin Urquhart-Stewart. "The cat's got talent." To celebrate his success, Orlando's owner, former Cash editor Jill Insley, has bought him a red collar in the style of Urquhart-Stewart's omnipresent red braces.

All but one of Orlando's stocks (Morrisons) rose during the last three months of the year, including specialist plastics and foam company Filtrona, which Orlando had hastily swapped for under-performing Scottish American Investment Trust in September.

By contrast, the professionals refused to swap any stocks at the end of the third quarter and paid the price. British Gas fell by 19% and Imagination Technologies dropped by 16.8%, dragging their portfolio down by an average 7.1%.

The students may have finished last, but displayed the best performance of all the teams in the final quarter, their portfolio increasing by an average 5.4%, including a fantastic performance of 17.4% for property company Savills.

A spokeswoman for Orlando said he was not available to give an interview because of a claws in his contract.

...more at link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/ja ... ck-picking

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Meow!!!

Congratulations, Orlando

I guess the Cat-mint teas are on you?


Of course I am sure our Ginger is just as smart.

We are lucky to have such a smart Kitty as a moderator here

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

We sure are!

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