Bulls, Bears, and…Tweeters?

There was a time not long ago when opinions regarding public company stock valuations were voiced by many, but only few were heard. This select group consisted of equity researchers, analysts, and financial advisors at top tier funds and banks.

If you were a member of the latter mentioned bunch then research distribution was not even close to an issue. Reports and terminals with seemingly invaluable pieces of data range(d) anywhere from hundreds to thouands of dollars a year.This meant a high barrier to entry for any new up and coming equity analyst looking to make name for themselves and simultaneously profit from the notoriety that would ensue.

Fast forward to present day, and there is no doubt that “the times, they are-a-changin’ ”. Social media is fundamentally transforming the way stock market investors operate. Some of this evidence showed itself in the Reed Hastings/Netflix Facebook and AP Twitter hacking incidents. The wall is down and the floodgates are now open. Everyone now has some way to publish their POV on a company, and (more importantly) everyone is gaining access to the same exact information. That information is also becoming available a lot quicker.

I believe we are at the beginning of something very exciting.Having the safety net of a large institutional presence is no longer as strong of a competitive advantage as it once was. The big wins will belong to those who can creatively utilize old and new data sets/information sources at both the qualitative and quantitative level.