Whenever a company prepares for a public offering, executives have been known to spend an inordinate amount of time choosing the combination of letters that will serve as the company’s ticker and often nickname within the investment community. To many, the fixation on selecting the perfect ticker seems like an irrational obsession on par with Patrick Bateman’s affinity for business cards. But there’s some evidence to support the idea that picking a clever ticker can be worth quite a bit of money.

An academic study titled “Would A Stock By Any Other Ticker Smell As Sweet?” (PDF) examined the performance of “clever ticker” stocks such as Southwest (LUV), Internet America (GEEK), Lion Country Safari (GRRR), and Explosive Fabricators (BOOM). This study uncovered that between 1984 and 2004, “a portfolio of clever-ticker stocks would have beaten the market by a substantial and statistically significant margin, contradicting the efficient market hypothesis.” Theories on the reason for this outperformance have been all over the board. Many have written it off as a coincidence, while others posit that a cool ticker is indicative of a more relaxed management team, and perhaps a more creative and productive corporate culture.

By Paul Justice

Fidelity announced Tuesday that it will be offering a suite of 25 iShares ETFs commission-free. In our view, the 25 ETFs selected (see the full list below) are among the most relevant product offerings from the largest ETF provider and will allow investors to build high-quality, transparent, liquid, and tax-efficient portfolios without the single-largest cost burden they previously faced when comparing ETFs to indexed mutual funds--trading commissions.