The stock market is more string than pearls

LIFE has been compared to pearls on a string: Long stretches of the mundane, followed by concentrated moments of unforgettable iridescent intensity.

As goes life, so goes investing in the stock market.

For instance, the large majority of companies you will ever encounter are run-of-the-mill stuff. You will be lucky to make a return of a few percentage points a year on them through business cycles.

Pearls are rare. Much has been written on growth stocks and tenbaggers. The latter is a term coined by fund manager Peter Lynch in his memorable book, One Up on Wall Street.

Yet for every Apple or Nestle or Jardine play, there are hundreds of other companies that don't m…