Dogs of the Dow
Active investors have likely heard of the "Dogs of the Dow" stock investment method. This contrarian plan basically has investors buy the "worst" stocks (usually ten) in the Dow Jones Industrials -- those issues with the highest yields (dividend divided by price). All in all, experts estimate that some $20 billion is invested using this strategy or some variant of it.
But you might want to know that this method, though brilliant from 1972 through 1984, was a relative dud 1985 through at least 1998. Back in 1972-84, the 10 Dow Dogs earned 15.4% annually, compared to 6.5% for the Dow Industrials overall. But, for the 1985-1998 period, the 10 Dow Dogs have earned about 18.5% each year, while the Dow Industrials as a whole have netted . . . about 18.5% annually.
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