How NN IP uses machines to read the market—and itself

When energy companies began pumping bumper profits into a series of stock buybacks last year, analysts at NN Investment Partners had to decide whether to make a change to the firm’s dividend strategies. The funds use fundamental measures to pick undervalued companies that make regular payouts. If dividends were going out of style for energy companies, they may need to stop holding those stocks. So the analysts asked their quant colleagues to investigate whether energy companies that favoured