In my day job as an analyst, I hear time and time again the conspiracy theorists, claiming that "the big guys" are out to get us, making it impossible to make money in the market. While insider buying is a good divining stick when analyzing companies, the idea that the institutions and insiders are just sitting, crouching in waiting, to sucker us into making investments decisions just to swipe our money is ludicrous.While there are certainly cases of misdeed or asymmetrical information, this is not the case. Playing fields are generally level for all parties. That's what the SEC, FINRA and many governing bodies are there for -- to protect investors.
So, I find it interesting to read, on a couple of accounts, about Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee sprinter making a go at qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in China. The NY Times ran a story today that cites that the amazing sprinter may hold an unfair advantage with his prosthetics and may subsequently be disallowed to compete.
While I'd love to see Pistorius compete and even win (I was a college sprint hack myself), if he has an unfair advantage given to him by his artificial legs, he shouldn't be allowed to compete. So, too, the system works in investing. If someone has an unfair advantage, either he or she is not allowed to act upon the information or is forced to go through a process to vet it.
Investors may want to look at sites like StreetInsider to monitor insider buying and selling. Knowing that the Jupitermedia (Nasdaq: JUPM) CEO is buying more shares (he now owns over 12M shares!) is useful information. Our subscribers to the Israeli Opportunity Investor learned that the Pointer Telocation's (Nasdaq: PNTR) Chairman recently purchased another 150,000 shares -- before the stock went up over 10% in just a few days after we recommended it.
Here's to a level playing field and to a courageous runner, Oscar Pistorius.
Zack Miller the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.
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