Momentum Investing Research

Momentum and Market Anomalies

Momentum is the tendency for assets that have performed well (poorly) in the recent past to continue to perform well (poorly) in the future, at [...]

Monetary Momentum

On most mainstream finance websites, a good chunk of the stories discuss the FED and where interest rates are going. Intuitively, this makes sense: The [...]

A Fund Flows Theory for Value and Momentum Investing

Value and Momentum Investing -- our two favorite factors. We talk about these phenomena on our blog all the time, and have given both rational and behavioral explanations as to why these may occur. However, very few in the finance community are direct investors into Value and Momentum securities -- the individual stocks (or bonds) themselves. Many use ETFs or mutual funds to gain access to these factors. Institutions generally do the same, either investing in hedge funds or managed accounts. This is delegated asset management, whereby one delegates the decision of the security selection onto a third-party manager. A by-product of delegation is that from time to time, the third-party manager must be assessed. While many may claim the process is most important, the performance is always taken into consideration. So what happens to a Value manager who is overweight the wrong industry? While the manager may be following the same process discussed ex-ante, the ex-post assessment may be that the manager needs to be fired due to underperformance.

Replicating Anomalies

Academic research is amazing and incredibly useful for helping us better understand the complex world in which we live. In fact, academic research has literally [...]

The Global Value Momentum Trend Philosophy

Our Global Value Momentum Trend Index ("GVMT" or "GVMT Index") is a globally diversified equity strategy that leverages trend-following to manage tail-risks. The strategy can [...]

Swedroe Spotlight: Does Market Sentiment Help Explain Momentum?

David Smith, Na Wang, Ying Wang and Edward Zychowicz contribute to the literature on momentum with their paper, “Sentiment and the Effectiveness of Technical Analysis: Evidence from the Hedge Fund Industry,” which was published in the December 2016 issue of the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis. Their work examines how investor sentiment affects the effectiveness of technical analysis strategies (which include the use of moving averages as well as momentum) used by hedge funds (which are considered sophisticated investors). The study was motivated by prior research that has focused on “investor sentiment,” which is the propensity of individuals to trade on noise and emotions rather than facts. Sentiment causes investors to have beliefs about future cash flows and investment risks that aren’t justified. Two researchers, Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler, constructed an investor sentiment index based on six measures: trading volume as measured by NYSE turnover; the dividend premium (the difference between the average market-to-book ratio of dividend-payers and non-payers); the closed-end fund discount; the number and first-day returns of IPOs; and the equity share in new issues. Data is available at through Wurgler and New York University.

Dual Momentum with Stock Selection

Jack did a nice recap on a momentum paper last week that looks at using fundamentals (revenue volatility, low cost of goods, and B/M) to help identify the best price momentum stocks. This paper sounds similar to the paper Jack reviewed, but there is a key difference: the researchers are looking at the momentum of the fundamentals, not the absolute value of the fundamentals. The authors compile a fundamental momentum variable by calculating the moving averages of 7 elements: return on equity return on assets earnings per share accrual-based operating profitability cash-based operating profitability gross profitability net payout ratio

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