With so much optimism infusing markets at the moment, it's almost refreshing to chat with a pessimist like Guy Pope, the manager of Columbia Threadneedle's Contrarian Core Fund. Employing a philosophy of finding out-of-favor contrarian investments, he doesn't use complicated algorithms or obscure metrics to find the stocks he adds to his fund. AdvertisementStart with pessimismWhen it comes to consistently outperforming the market, Pope credits his success to one main factor: searching areas that other people aren't focused on. That turned out to be a prescient move the following year, when the market tanked and the growth stocks that had been flying so high were brought low. Advertisement3 contrarian stock picksA straightforward strategy and a distinctly disciplined approach have combined to give Pope and his fund a leg up on the competition.

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