Finance & economics | Maxing the factors

“Factor investing” gains popularity

But the age-old search for a magic market-beating formula still looks forlorn

RETAIL investors tend to dream of finding a wonder stock—a Netflix or Apple that will multiply their savings many times over. But institutional investors cannot commit too much capital to one individual company. Instead, they hope to pick the right kind of stocks, a broadly based group that will beat the market.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Maxing the factors”

Doctor You: How data will transform health care

From the February 3rd 2018 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Finance & economics

Can anything spark Europe’s economy back to life?

Mario Draghi, the continent’s unofficial chief technocrat, has a plan

Has social media broken the stockmarket?

That is the contention of Cliff Asness, one of the great quant investors


American office delinquencies are shooting up

How worried should investors be?


China is suffering from a crisis of confidence

Can anything perk up its economy?

America has a huge deficit. Which candidate would make it worse?

Enough policies have been proposed to make a call

Why Oasis fans should welcome price-gouging

There are worse things in life than paying a fair price