Institutional Investor (December 14)
It’s difficult for analysts to rise above groupthink since they “tend to use the same quantitative information…and similar methodologies.” Remarkably, some do. Institutional Investor recognizes them annually. Still, it seems that one day algorithms will “displace analysts entirely, meaning that these algorithms will themselves become eligible, in principle, for election to the II All-America Research Team.”
Tags: Algorithms, All-America Research Team, Analysts, Groupthink, Information, Methodologies, Quantitative
Institutional Investor (October 29)
“Just as information from barometers and thermometers can help us prepare for tomorrow’s weather, so corporate information on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues can help investors make better decisions and prepare for the future” by providing such information “as whether supply chain management takes account of climate risk, whether fixed assets are based in areas prone to flooding and cyclones and whether the scale of a company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is contributing to more extreme weather events over the long term.” But the problem is “too few companies report on such ESG factors. And when they do, it is often voluntarily reported, which tends to mean different methodologies and measures too inconsistent for investors to compare efficiently.” There is an obvious solution. Global stock exchanges should “coordinate the reporting of sustainability metrics just as they do with financial metrics.”
Tags: Climate risk, ESG, Extreme weather, Fixed assets, GHG emissions, Investors, Methodologies, Stock exchanges, Supply chain management
