Investments: Tempest Over Tipsters

As many as 10 million viewers tune in each Friday evening to public television's Wall Street Week. In one regular segment of the show, Host Louis Rukeyser queries expert guests for stock tips. As it turns out, those analysts may have an unwitting knack for touting losers. According to a study released by Market Logic, a Fort Lauderdale newsletter, the 261 stocks picked by guests between late April 1983 and July 1984 fell by 8.4%, compared with a 5.7% drop for the market as a whole.

The study sparked a stinging exchange between Rukeyser and Financial Columnist Dan Dorfman, who wrote about the study in a Jan. 14 New York magazine column. Said Dorfman: "Here's a surefire way to lose a buck--and fast." Dorfman's column suggests that Rukeyser tends to select guests whose ideas are already in vogue on Wall Street. By the time the experts appear on the show, their favored stocks may have nearly crested.

New York last week published a tart reply from Rukeyser. He claimed Dorfman wrote an "attempted hatchet job" because he had been dropped from the show. Wrote Rukeyser: "I have been reminding viewers each week that no recommendations are guaranteed, that analysts differ, that nobody bats 1.000."