It is a truism that those who consider themselves to be contrarians generally don’t work for institutional investors or investment managers who are the pillar of the establishment. It is recognised, though, that some form of early-mover positioning can be an effective way of producing long-term alpha. In terms of investment behaviour, however, the image for a contrarian is one of an unconventional, against-the-herd maverick, someone prepared to entertain business, reputational or career risk — or all three! — in pursuit of an outperformance strategy.
