A new study by Gerald Martin of American University and John Puthenpurackal of (wait for it) the University of Nevada, called “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery," has found that if you buy the same stocks as Warren Buffett, you will make a lot of money. It’s a companion piece to an equally groundbreaking paper by the same authors which found that Goldman Sachs employs many individuals from an ethnoreligious group originatating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the ancient Middle East. The study found that investors mimicking the Oracle’s stock picks, even up to four months later, would earn an annual return of 24.6 percent, easily beating the S&P 500, which rose 12.8 percent during the same period. Based on these numbers, Martin and Puthenpurackal came to almost the preposterous conclusion that “"Warren Buffett appears to possess investment skill.” (No joke, they actually came to and wrote that conclusion.) Investors partial to mammary glands of the gigantic variety will be pleased to note that Buffett told M&P that when he’s having difficulty making a decision about a stock, one of his tried and true tricks is to stare at a rack not unlike that of Liz Claman’s (and, in many cases, that exact one) for two, maybe three minutes, and the answer will “just come” to him. So keep doing what you’re doing.
Earlier: You Say Harem, I Say Whorehouse
Buying What Buffett Buys Based on Filings Doubles S&P 500 Gains [Bloomberg]
Posted by , Nov 16, 2007 12:39PM
what about Buffett's testimony re: death tax?