BAML Beat Factor Points To Long / Short Stock Picks

Beat factor? Bank of America Merrill Lynch is looking for the most out-of-consensus stock ideas from which to make stock picking recommendations. The research product, titled the “Beat Factor,” ultimately comes up with a list of long and short names that, when executed into a relative value strategy, has a backtested history of upbeat picks outperforming downbeat stocks by 13% annually, delivering a Sharpe ratio of 1.51, a report on the system claims.  There are large and in some cases surprising names in its list of buy and sell recommendations. Beat Factor is quantitative method to determine value, make buy…