Ten lessons on how NOT to be a contrarian investor

Investec's Alastair Mundy - the well known contrarian investor - has won an army of fans thanks to his specialist approach to investing. Here he reveals ten mistakes many investors make when picking companies to back.

With 20/20 hindsight goggles firmly attached, it may seem obvious that HMV was doomed and that its recent move into administration in early 2013 was inevitable. However, as recently as November 2009, when it had a market capitalisation of £500m, over two thirds of investment bank analysts who followed the stock were bulls. As innocent bystanders, its demise provides us with an interesting case study into how not to do contrarian investing. The 10 lessons we take away are as follows: 1 Underestimate the speed of technological development at your peril. When technology gets its tee...