Plagiarism Is Legal In the Investment Business

It is, of course, perfectly legal to copy of the ideas of others in the investment business. The dirty secret is professional investors do it every day.

Find an investor whose style you like, and see what else they own. Every single time you find a new idea yourself, see what other managers own that stock. Then go to that manager’s 13-F and see what other stocks they own.

Rinse and repeat.

I would estimate the a good analyst should spend his time like this:

20% finding new ideas

70% researching new ideas, to get your best 20-30

10% doing maintenance research on ideas you already own

If you want to spend more time doing research on ideas, then here is a suggestion.

Stop looking for new ideas.

Just start working on the names in the Victory Sycamore Small Cap Opportunities Fund. The list is that good. You need never spend another minute looking for new ideas, just pull out this list and find the best 20.

I am not kidding, I am not joking. I am dead serious. If you get bored you can find another manager to add to the mix. I will suggest others as we go along, but this list is the gold standard. I wish I had found it years ago.

Be careful not to pick ideas that have already done exceptionally well. The manager might be planning to sell those ideas. Look for ideas that have under-performed in the past 6 months. You might get a cheaper entry point than the manager you are copying.

I am not advocating buying ideas without doing your homework on the stock. I am only saying you can get your initial idea on what stocks too look at by reviewing the holdings of others.