what's in a (stock) name

Princeton psychologists release findings that stocks of companies with 'simple' names outperform those with 'complex' names. the psychologists first furnished a list of fictional names with would-be investors expressing more positive outlooks for 'simple' stocks. given these initial results, an analysis of real world performance yielded similar results.

while this analysis would suggest a KISS investing philosophy, the princetonians sum up with a disclaimer

"It's a very large effect," says Oppenheimer, who reports the work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But so far the researchers have only trialled one bunch of stocks, so it is unclear how robust this trend really is. "I'd caution people not to change their portfolio on this basis."

in this investing environment with frothiness, outta control compensation and questionable investing philosophies, companies that come up with wacky names may indicate other problems

¶ - nitish @ 9:35 AM