An Example of Early Quantitative Fundamental Stock Analysis

Lacking computers, financial analysis of investments prior to the sixties was seldom quantitative. Toward the end of the sixties, time-sharing computers with limited memory were available. Basic statistical analysis was feasible, and a few financial analysts with quantitative training began to try to gain an advantage over their colleagues by extracting what they viewed as private information from public data. This paper presents an example from 1969, an analysis of catastrophic insurance losses. Following Hurricane Betsy, that devastated Florida in 1965, many professional investors were fearful of catastrophic losses adversely impacting insurance stocks. This analysis allowed one buy-side boutique research firm to put Hurricane Betsy in perspective.