Winning With the Dow's Underdogs?

Charles Carlson, CEO of Horizon Investment Services and author of several books on investing, has an interesting take on producing consistent, market-beating results. He does it by espousing a "no-thinking" type of investing.

No-thinking investing?

That's my own term for it, and although I'm no fan of formulaic investing, Carlson's method is worth a look: It tackles some of the psychological barriers that stop us from being master investors.

Winning with the Dow's losers
Buy low. Sell high. That's how you beat the market, right? Sounds simple, but it's not.

Buying while everyone you know and respect is selling is not easy; nor is it a simple task to cash out while your stocks are setting record highs with each passing day. Carlson's method attempts to circumvent these emotions, which betray our better investing sense.

In a basic sense, here's how it works:

1. Find out which five stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) have performed the poorest over the past year.
2. Buy those five stocks (forcing you to buy low).
3. Hold them for one year.
4. Sell those stocks (forcing you, theoretically, to sell high).
5. Wash, rinse, repeat...

Got proof?
Carlson went back to the 1930s and ran the numbers: "What I discovered was that buying a basket of the Dow's worst-performing stocks (I call these underachieving stocks "Dow underdogs") and holding them for a year outperformed the Dow by a wide margin going back to 1930. What's more, the strategy has been even more profitable over more recent time periods, including the last 10 years and especially during the volatile markets since 2000."

The theoretical underpinnings make sense. Carlson is self-selecting from a group of 30 very mature, well-established businesses; there are no rocket stocks or start-ups here. And as a group, they serve as a fair proxy for the larger market (actually, to some, they are the proxy). By buying the poorest performing members of this group of 30 and holding them for a year, Carlson believes that on average, those stocks will revert to their mean, and outperform their peers.

But let's look at some hard numbers. How would this strategy have fared if you adopted it at the end of last year? Keep in mind, the Dow is up 2.7% since Jan. 1.

Source: http://www.dowunderdogs.com/Performance.asp *Does not include dividends.

Yikes! Carlson admits that this year, the system doesn't seem to be working. That being said, there are still several weeks left in the year for performance to turn around.

The whole idea behind this, though, is that eventually, these behemoths all revert to the mean. If you believe that, then the bounce coming from this strategy could be huge. If you don't, you probably don't want to mess with it.

What are today's Dow underdogs?
Should you want to give the strategy a try, the worst-performing stocks of the past 12 months look a lot like the list produced this January. Just swap out JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) for Microsoft, and you have your five worst performers.

Also of interest, here are the five highest-performing stocks on the Dow over the last 12 months. Though I haven't read Carlson advocating for it, the inverse of his strategy would be to sell the highest performers.

Source: http://www.dowunderdogs.com/PriceChange.asp

Should you use it?
In the end, there's no "perfect" way to invest. Your investment style depends on your timeline, your goals, your experience, and your temperament.

If you're a beginning investor and just getting your feet wet, this could be an easy way to start. Or, if you're nearing retirement, don't like spending too much time on your investments, and want some relatively safe stocks, Carlson's method is a viable option.

While I find Carlson's method of investing interesting, it isn't ultimately for me. I respect what Carlson's method offers, but I like to think of being an investor as being an owner of a living, breathing organization -- not just a virtual piece of paper.

By selling and buying new sets of stocks every year -- without any research into the people behind the companies, or how they're contributing to our evolution as people and consumers -- doesn't fit with my "ownership" mindset. In my opinion, it's also not as fun as doing your own research ... but that's just me.

For example, one of the investments I'm most excited about (and that I own) is highlighted in this special free report from The Motley Fool: "One Stock to Own Before Nat Gas Act 2011 Becomes Law." Inside the report, you'll find out about a company that's changing the way we move things across the country. A congressional decision on the Nat Gas Act could be coming any day. When it does, this stock could be a huge beneficiary. Find out the name of the company today, in your report that's absolutely free!