Marks Says Quant Investing Is a `Fringe Activity' at This Point
Marks Says Quant Investing Is a `Fringe Activity' at This Point
(Bloomberg) -- Oaktree Capital Group LLC Co-Chairman Howard Marks said quantitative investing isn’t a replacement for the judgment of the best stock pickers.
“Some firms are doing it well,” Marks said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Erik Schatzker on Wednesday. “But it’s only a fringe activity.”
Earlier this week, Marks issued a 17-page memo that analyzed the effects of several investing industry trends including the use of passive and quantitative strategies.
"I say in the memo can a computer sit down with an executive and figure out if he’s Steve Jobs?” Marks said. “Can a computer sit down and hear a business pitch from an entrepreneur and figure out if it’s Amazon?"
Marks added that “you could certainly have good or bad quantitative funds depending on whether the people writing the algorithms are above or below average skill.”
--With assistance from Erik Schatzker.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katrina Lewis in Boston at klewis128@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Alan Mirabella, Vincent Bielski
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