Jason-
Thank you. I will mention that some of the greatest stock pickers are not CFA's or MBA's. In fact, and you can check this, Ann Scheiber was a self taught stock picker, who was right behind Ben Graham in rank. Ernie Kiehne of the Legg Mason Value Trust had no formal training. If you and I both recommend Disney, I'll do it because I like the company and the chart, but I'll use your analysis to extrapolate on future stock price. I agree that firms want to see the piece of paper to demonstrate knowledge, but what if there's no material difference in whether I have it or not. I think the barrier to entry may be higher, but I think I would have an edge over the CFA/MBA because you're not really looking at charts, but numbers. Charts often foretell success or failure or accumululation before the analysts model that.
Case in point. Biogen has had trouble for a few months now, and the chart showed trouble that was not yet apparent. I sold, and sure enough, the issue was poor earnings, That wasn't something the analysts modeled, but because I know how to read charts, I got out of the stock. Similarly, analysts won't often cover stocks below $5, where many biotechs/pharmas start moving. A good chart reader will catch the stock long before you do, but only because your firm might not be able to invest in these.
So, if we are here to make money, the guy who reads charts well, and catches a good stock at $5 will make 100% before the analyst even models the data. I'll go back to Disney. If I like Disney's chart, and believe it is moving higher, based on patterns, how is that less advantageous than modeling a stock? Those are two different methods. I think that one can't be a good CFA unless one understands how to read charts. i think many companies begin moving long before estimates reflect good news. Consider Agenus and Eagle Pharma as examples. By the way, if we compare the CFA who gets 20% returns vs. the chart reader who gets 40%, what is the true difference? I'd rather have the chart reader on my staff, just because he'll catch ideas before my analysts do. No program can teach you that as a CFA or MBA. Besides, I'd argue that having the chart reader and CFA might help me model stocks based on anomalies in the charts that make my CFA ask harder questions.
I appreciate your time.
-Jon