Ten Famous Investors, Ten Ways to Hold a Share
September 2026 · 6 min read
Ask ten famous investors what makes a share worth buying and you get ten different answers. Ask them how long they plan to hold it and the answers range from a few days to “forever”. That second question matters more than it looks: the holding period decides which method makes sense at all.
We translated ten well-known approaches into the numbers a stock screener can test — valuation, return on capital, growth, price trend — and lined them up by how long each expects to hold. This is what that exercise teaches, without naming a single stock.
Typical holding period, log scale
The dashed line is a three-week trade. Only four of the ten methods were built to reach it.
Built for weeks: the traders
Four of the ten were designed for short holding periods. They disagree about almost everything — a mathematician, a trend follower, a growth chartist and a macro investor — but they share one habit: a hard rule for getting out.
Jim Simons
Short-term statistical patterns
Pure mathematics, no opinions about companies. Find tiny, repeatable patterns in prices and trade thousands of them at once, so a small edge adds up.
What a screen looks for
Price only — short-term oversold readings (RSI), distance from moving averages, recent volatility. Valuation is ignored.
When they get out
Mechanical and fast. The pattern plays out within days or the position is closed.
Paul Tudor Jones
Trend-following
A macro trader obsessed with defence: follow the trend, look for trades that can pay five times what they risk, and cut losers without debate.
What a screen looks for
Price above its 200-day moving average and a strong established trend, ideally backed by rising earnings.
When they get out
“Nothing good happens below the 200-day.” A close under the average ends the trade.
William O'Neil
CAN SLIM growth leaders
Buy the fastest-growing companies in the leading industry groups as they break out to new highs.
What a screen looks for
Strong current and annual earnings growth, price near its highs, a leading industry group — but not stretched far above its averages.
When they get out
Sell any position that falls 7–8% below the buy price. No exceptions.
Stanley Druckenmiller
Macro-driven concentrated bets
Top-down macro: find the dominant economic and liquidity theme, concentrate heavily in it, and protect capital first.
What a screen looks for
The companies at the centre of that theme — high returns on capital, fast earnings growth, momentum that has cooled rather than overheated.
When they get out
When the macro thesis changes — rates, liquidity, the cycle — get out fast, whatever the position has done.
In between: growth at a reasonable price
Peter Lynch sits in the middle. His PEG ratio can flag an interesting company in an afternoon, but the payoff — earnings growth being recognised by the market — usually takes quarters or years to arrive.
Peter Lynch
Growth at a reasonable price
Buy what you know, and sort companies into types — fast growers, stalwarts, cyclicals — because each needs a different approach.
What a screen looks for
A PEG ratio (P/E divided by earnings growth) below 1, a business you understand, and cash flow that backs up the reported earnings.
When they get out
When the story changes: growth slows, the P/E runs far ahead of growth, or the reason you bought no longer holds.
Built for years: the investors
The other five are explicitly long-term. For them a three-week price move is noise: the thesis is about what the business earns over years, and several of these methods are known to lag the market for long stretches before they pay.
Joel Greenblatt
The Magic Formula
Rank companies on two numbers at once, buy a basket of the best-ranked, and stick with it through bad stretches.
What a screen looks for
High return on capital plus a high earnings yield (EBIT divided by enterprise value), ranked together across the market.
When they get out
Rebalance after about a year. Built for a basket of 20–30 shares, and can lag the market two or three years running.
Benjamin Graham
Deep value, margin of safety
The father of value investing: buy well below intrinsic or book value, diversify widely, and treat Mr. Market's mood swings as opportunities.
What a screen looks for
P/E × price-to-book below 22.5 (his published ceiling), low debt, and a long record of profits and dividends.
When they get out
When the price reaches a fair estimate of value — or after two to three years if it never does.
Howard Marks
Contrarian, cycle-aware
Second-level thinking: know where we are in the cycle, control risk before chasing return, and be greedy only when the pendulum has swung to fear.
What a screen looks for
Solid businesses priced as if they are shrinking — low P/E, high free-cash-flow yield, heavy falls amid widespread pessimism.
When they get out
When the consensus has come round and the price no longer offers a margin of safety.
Cathie Wood
Disruptive innovation
Back the companies expected to define the next decade, on a five-year view, and accept extreme volatility along the way.
What a screen looks for
Very fast revenue growth in new technology platforms. Current profits and valuation matter less than the size of the opportunity.
When they get out
Rarely on price — the approach adds on weakness. Out when the innovation thesis itself breaks.
Warren Buffett
Quality at a fair price
Wonderful businesses at fair prices: durable competitive advantages, honest management and high returns on capital.
What a screen looks for
Consistently high return on capital, stable margins, low debt, and a price that is fair rather than cheap.
When they get out
“Our favourite holding period is forever” — sell only if the business itself deteriorates.
Bonus: a Spanish value investor — Francisco García Paramés
Often called “the Spanish Buffett”, Paramés ran Bestinver's funds from 1993 to 2014 and later founded Cobas Asset Management. His book Invirtiendo a largo plazo (Investing for the Long Term) sets out a value approach close to Graham's and Marks's, with two traits of its own.
- Looks for: good businesses the market ignores or dislikes — often industrial, cyclical or little-followed companies — trading well below his estimate of their value.
- Gets out: when the price approaches that value, rotating the money into whatever now offers the most upside — so the portfolio changes even though each thesis is long-term.
- Horizon: years, typically three to five, with a willingness to look wrong for a long time before being proved right.
What running all ten side by side teaches
- 1.Decide the horizon first. The holding period chooses the method, not the other way round. A value screen judged over three weeks is judged on noise; a mean-reversion signal held for a year has long since expired.
- 2.Short trades live on the exit rule. Every short-horizon method here has a hard rule for getting out — a close below a moving average, a fixed 7–8% loss. Without one, a short trade quietly becomes a long one nobody planned.
- 3.Cheap on every measure is a question. When one company passes several value screens at once, either the market is wrong or it sees a threat the past numbers don't show yet. Second-level thinking means asking which.
- 4.Different screens can be the same bet. Methods that look unrelated often land in the same sector or the same economic cycle. Ten strategies can still add up to two or three bets, so check what you would really own.
- 5.Rates set the bar. When government bonds pay 5%, a share has to beat that before it is worth the risk. Long-horizon investors feel this most, because they lock in the comparison for years.
Try the criteria yourself
Every “what a screen looks for” line above can be tested on the FinancePlots stock screener against the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 or IBEX 35. It starts empty and suggests nothing: the links on each card above only highlight the measures that method looks at — you choose every limit, and the matches come back in alphabetical order. Then ask the question this article is really about — how long would I hold it, and what would make me sell?
For education only. The screens described are simplified translations of each investor's published approach, not their actual holdings or recommendations. No security is named or recommended in this article, and nothing here is investment advice.
Share this article
Free Tools for Individuals
Stock screener, portfolio analysis, compound interest and a step-by-step financial plan — no signup.
Open Tools for Individuals