Cat beats experts in newspaper's year-long stock-picking challenge

A BRITISH newspaper’s stock-picking competition came unstuck when a ginger cat won the investment challenge.

The Observer portfolio challenge pitted a team of professionals from a variety of stockbroking and wealth management firms against a team of students and - competing solo - Orlando, the cat.

Each team invested a notional 5000 pounds ($7600) in five FTSE All-Share companies at the start of 2012, allowing them to exchange stocks every three months with others from the index.

Although Orlando was trailing in September, an unexpected turnaround in the last quarter saw the feline’s portfolio increasing by an average 4.2 per cent to end the year at 5542.60 pounds, compared with the professionals’ 5176.60 pounds.



While the professionals stuck to traditional methods, Orlando selected stocks by throwing a toy mouse on a grid of numbers allocated to various companies.

The surprise outcome may lend weight to the "random walk hypothesis" promoted by economist Burton Malkiel in his book A Random Walk Down Wall Street, which holds that share prices move at random, making markets unpredictable.

"It's time to crack open the Whiskas," said competitor Justin Urquhart-Stewart. "The cat's got talent."

To celebrate Orlando's success, owner Jill Insley, bought him a red collar in the style of Urquhart-Stewart's red braces.