Cat Picks Better Stocks Than Money Managers

Investors, it's kitty-cat time: A contest that pitted stock-picking professionals against finance students and a cat named Orlando wrapped up last month—and Orlando won, the Guardian reports. Starting last January, each team invested an imaginary sum worth about $7,900 and was allowed to swap any stocks every three months. The professionals were ahead of Orlando by the end of September, but the ginger feline pulled ahead in the final quarter.

While the pros analyzed the market, Orlando picked his stocks by tossing a toy mouse over a grid of different companies. In the end, his portfolio rose by an average of 4.2%, finishing with $8,800, ahead of the professionals' $8,200; the students came in third. "It's time to crack open the Whiskas," said one of the wealth managers. "The cat's got talent." The outcome seems to support the "random walk hypothesis" argued by Burton Malkiel in A Random Walk Down Wall Street—that share prices move too randomly to be predicted. (More stock market stories.)