Complicated formulas mattered a great deal less, Shannon argued, than a company’s “people and the product.” He went on: A lot of people look at the stock price, when they should be looking at the basic company and its earnings. There are many problems concerned with the prediction of stochastic processes, for example the earnings of companies. . . . My general feeling is that it is easier to choose companies which are going to succeed, than to predict short term variations, things which last only weeks or months, which they worry about on Wall Street Week. There is a lot more randomness there
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