Bloomberg explores Cochran’s stock trading strategy
Senator Thad Cochran bought shares of Crimson Exploration Inc. (CXPO), a Houston-based oil company, in two trades a week apart last fall. The shares climbed for six weeks and Cochran sold them on Dec. 15 for a profit.
The Crimson transactions were just a few of the approximately 230 share trades the Mississippi Republican reported in his personal 2010 financial disclosure released last week. Cochran held dozens of the stocks for only a few days or weeks, and some companies’ shares were bought and sold repeatedly throughout the year.
“All of the senator’s investments are handled by outside brokers and he’s not personally involved in any of that,” said Cochran’s spokesman Chris Gallegos. He declined to provide details on the overall performance of the account or give the name of Cochran’s broker or brokerage firm.
Investment managers say it’s unlikely Cochran is beating the market by buying and selling so many shares.
“The taxes and the trading costs associated with the senator’s strategy are a major negative factor; however, the inevitable mis-timing of the market is what will ultimately do him in,” said Darius Gagne, a principal at Quantum Wealth Management in Culver City, California.
Bloomberg
6/20/11
Magnolia Tribune
