Our investment chief did it again. If you read Saturday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, you likely noticed The Oxford Communiqué earned the title of one of the best in the business.

That’s right…

Here’s how Mark Hulbert put it in his annual review of the top newsletters:

For the past dozen years, the Hulbert Financial Digest has constructed an annual honor roll of those services that performed better than the average advisor in both the up and down phases of the three previous market cycles.

Currently, only 12 have done so. The remainder do well only when the market is going their way. Those who focus on risky small cap growth stocks, for example, are near the top of the performance rankings when the market is rising and near the bottom when the market is falling.

The goal isn’t to identify advisors who make the most money at all costs, but rather the ones whom risk-averse investors can live with through thick and thin. Still, it is worth noting that, over the past 15 years, the advisors making it onto each year’s honor roll on average over the subsequent 12 months went on to make 1.2 percentage points more a year than those who didn’t, while nevertheless incurring 25% less risk, as measured by volatility of returns.

That is a winning combination.

Our Philosophy

Larger returns… with less risk. That’s long been the bedrock idea of The Oxford Communiqué‘s proven investment strategy.

Yes, we have an ever-growing stable of talented experts, each with their own nuances and tactics. But the core philosophy remains the same…

We’re not market timers.

When it comes to making investment decisions, the answer to “Are you bullish on the market?” is irrelevant. In fact, as Hulbert’s long-term analysis shows, it’s the wrong question entirely.

And even if you could somehow divine what the stock market was going to do next you still wouldn’t know which stocks would outperform and which would lag.

Our proven strategy focuses on a single idea – stock market success is about analyzing businesses, not investing in some half-cocked macroeconomic forecast brimming with little more than educated guesses.

Alex sends a synopsis of our investment strategy to every new subscriber to his Oxford Communiqué. In it, he includes a simple paragraph:

Companies that do all the right things – increase sales, compound earnings at high rates, grow market share, improve operating margins, pay down debt and buy back shares – post superb returns, regardless of what the economy or stock market is doing.*

In other words, don’t ask, “Where will the markets head next?” Instead, we need to be asking, “Where will a particular company’s earnings head next?”

That’s the key to sustainable, long-term success.

We urge our readers not to succumb to the financial media’s hype that would have us believe the market is set to implode or explode with the next big headline. As our tagline says, we take the high road to financial independence.

Our strategy works.

It’s been proven for more than a decade. And our collective hat is off to our Chief Investment Strategist Alex Green. His successful portfolio management with The Oxford Communiqué is impossible to match.

Good investing,

Andrew Snyder

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of professional analysts.