Heard on Street

Given the information overload that we deal with on a daily basis, there is always a chance of a half-truth or a distortion making its way to our desks or Inbox. Such messages might even come with the caption – HoS, or Heard on Street. 

I am sure all active investors have had to deal with misinformation at some point in time.

Mine was when a friend with many years of professional investing experience suggested buying shares of Chennai Petroleum because Warren Buffett was going to take a stake in the company. It seemed odd that of all investment avenues in the world, Buffett would be interested in a small government-owned oil refinery in India. It turned out he was taking a stake in PetroChina, which, in the investing version of Chinese Whispers got modified to China Petro and then Chennai Petro!

-Salil Desai , Marcellus