Ticker Sense

What Worked in 3Q? Low P/B Ratio...

The matrix at below uses nine criteria to evaluate various investment strategies (note that each criterion is independent of the other).  For example, stocks are sorted on market value, divided into ten groups of fifty, and then the performance of each group is calculated.  After that is completed the entire S&P is resorted by 2011 performance, then estimated P/E and so on down the line. 

The best performing strategy was to buy the fifty stocks with the lowest P/B ratio.  Those fifty names gained 10.85%, on average, in the third quarter.

We would also note that in the third quarter the fifty smallest stocks nearly doubled the return of the largest fifty stocks.

ETF Liquidations Hit Record in September

Despite the overall rise in assets (to a record $1.3T), the total number of available funds fell to 1,441.  Six new funds were released in September, while twenty-four  were liquidated.   Last month was the highest on record in terms of fund liquidations.  The majority of liquidations came from UBS which closed twelve of their VIX focused ETNs and Direxion which closed eight of their leveraged funds.

October 1st Blogger Sentiment Poll

 

Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:                

24/7 Wall St (N) The Aleph Blog (+) Biiwii (N) BullBear Trading  Carl Futia (+) Dash of Insight (N) Dividend Growth Investor (+) Elliot Wave Lives On (+) Expected Returns (-) Fallond Stock Picks  Global Economic Intersection (-) GEI – Investing Blog (-) Humble Student of the Markets (+) In the Money  Learning Curve (-) MaoXian  Night Owl Trader (-) The Mess That Greenspan Made  Peridot Capitalist (-) Prometheus Market Insight  PUG Stock Market Analysis (+) Quant Investor  Shanky’s Tech Blog  Short Takes (N) Smart Money Tracker (+) StockAdvisors.com  Traders-Talk  ValuePlays  VIX and More (-) Wall St. Cheat Sheet  Wishing Wealth  Zentrader (N)