contrarian

Contrarian

An investment style that goes against prevailing market trends by buys assets that are performing poorly and selling when they perform well.

Investopedia Commentary

A contrarian investor believes that the people who say the market is going up do so only when they are fully invested and have no further purchasing power. At this point the market is at a peak. On the other hand, when people predict a downturn, they have already sold out, at which point the market can only go up.

Contrarian investing also emphasizes out-of-favor securities with low P/E ratios.

See also: Buck the Trend, P/E Ratio, Style, Value Stock

contrarian

An investor who decides which securities to buy and sell by going against the crowd. For example, a contrarian would tend to purchase the stock of steel companies when steel stock prices are depressed and most investment counselors are advising against them. Contrarians operate on the premise that when stocks are very popular they are overbought and when they are very unpopular they are oversold.