by Charles Cheng, CFA

 

 

Previously, we talked about the importance of basing investment decisions on information that is truly actionable. For shorter time horizon trades, that information must be an insight that is not already widely known in the market but will have a real impact on the company or the market at some time in the near future. For individual investors, it’s also important to understand that access to these kinds of insights is often not available to everyone on an equal basis, and they should adjust their investment strategies accordingly.

先前，我們討論了基於真正可操作的資訊來進行投資決策的重要性。　對於短期交易，這些資訊必須是尚未被市場廣泛知曉，但會在不久的將來對公司或市場產生實際影響的洞見。　對於個人投資者來說，同樣重要的是要明白，並非每個人都能平等地獲得此類洞見，因此他們應該相應地調整自己的投資策略。

 

Institutional investors have several advantages related to the scale of their operations. They can pay for research coverage either directly or through commissions. This not only includes research reports, but access to industry and company contacts, events, and other services. They also can hire specialists to cover each sector and subsector as analysts or portfolio managers. All this translates into more opportunities for them to uncover actionable insights than someone investing alone, and even large funds have a significant advantage in this respect versus small funds.

機構投資人擁有與其營運規模相關的諸多優勢。　他們可以直接或透過佣金支付獲取研究報告。　這些接觸不僅包括研究報告，還可聯繫行業和公司發言人、參與公司活動以及其他服務。　他們還可以聘請專家擔任分析師或投資組合經理，負責各個行業和子行業的投資。　所有這些都意味著，與個人投資相比，他們擁有更多機會獲得切實可行的洞見，即使是大型基金在這方面也比小型基金擁有顯著優勢。

 

While individual investors can sometimes get access to research reports through their brokers or other sources, these are of little value because the information they contain has already been discounted into the stock price. Without a comprehensive view of what all institutional participants and providers are saying, it’s hard to know what insights will actually lead to future investment returns.

雖然個人投資者有時可以透過其經紀人或其他管道取得研究報告，但這些報告的價值不大，因為其中包含的資訊已經被反映在股價中。　如果不全面了解所有機構參與者和提供者的觀點，就很難知道哪些洞見能真正帶來未來的投資報酬。

 

With these limitations in mind, one thing investors can do is to focus on areas where they are at less of an information disadvantage. Due to securities regulations regarding information disclosure for public companies, the information gap for individual investors is the smallest at earnings and annual reporting dates and conferences. It is these earnings presentations, publications, and calls that they should focus on, especially for industries that they have more understanding of than others. Furthermore, because the information gap will begin increasing again between these reporting dates, it would be prudent for most individual investors to target medium to long term time horizons (several quarters to years) for their investment ideas rather than the short term.

考慮到這些限制，投資人可以做的一件事就是關注那些他們資訊劣勢較小的領域。　由於證券法規對上市公司資訊揭露的規定，個人投資者在財報、年度報告發布日和會議期間的資訊差距最小。　他們應該關注這些財報發布、出版物和電話會議，尤其是那些他們更了解的行業。　此外，由於資訊差距在這些報告發布日之間會再次擴大，因此對於大多數個人投資者來說，明智的做法是將投資目標鎖定在中長期（幾季到幾年）而非短期。　

 

Also, given time and personal constraints it may not be practical to try to generate a lot of investment ideas and positions. Rather, they can focus on fewer names and maintain the rest of their long-term investment exposure in ETFs so that they are not underinvested while waiting for ideas. In this respect, personal investors do have an advantage over many institutional investors. They can afford to be patient and wait for opportunities rather than continually trying to fill their portfolios with new ideas.

此外，考慮到時間和個人因素，嘗試大量建立投資想法和部位可能並不現實。　相反，他們可以專注於少數幾檔股票，並將剩餘的長期投資分佈在ETF中，這樣就不會在等待投資機會的過程中投資不足。　在這方面，個人投資者確實比許多機構投資者更有優勢。　他們可以耐心等待機會，而不是不斷地嘗試用新想法填滿投資組合。　

 

 

This article reflects the personal views of the author and not any firm’s and should not be viewed as an investment recommendation.

 

 

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