We continue to believe that, based on our experience and that of the broader industry, a focus on individual stocks and the stories they present at best has a neutral effect on portfolio performance, relative to the market in general. Stock picking, in our view, may even lead to worse-than-optimal outcomes for investors. Far more powerful, we think, is a focus on types of stocks. That is, we seek to establish favorable investment prospects based on commonalities across stocks, rather than the idiosyncrasies of each. Such statements often lead to a bit of head-scratching, so we thought we’d dive a bit deeper in this month’s commentary.