---
title: Less Is More: Forecast Granularity, Estimation Error, and Portfolio Choice
url: https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/ssrn/7547959/
site: ML-Quant (https://www.ml-quant.com)
updated: 2026-10-02
license: Summaries CC BY 4.0; links go to the original sources
index: https://www.ml-quant.com/llms.txt
identifier: SSRN 7547959
source_url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7547959
featured: 2026-10-02
citations: unknown
topic: Portfolio & Allocation
---


# Less Is More: Forecast Granularity, Estimation Error, and Portfolio Choice

Investors using machine-learning forecasts can achieve Sharpe ratios of 1.2 by adjusting the number of portfolio groups based on the forecast's information coefficient, beating standard decile sorts.

- Source: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7547959
- Identifier: SSRN 7547959
- Released: 2026-10-01
- First featured: Quant Letter No. 133 (2026-10-02): https://www.ml-quant.com/issues/2026-10-02/
- Citations (Semantic Scholar): not tracked
- Published in: not yet
- Topic: Portfolio & Allocation
- Authors: Lukas Salcher, Sebastian Stöckl, Michael Hanke

## Related

- [The Critical Line Algorithm and the Constrained LASSO: One Curve, Two Literatures](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/arxiv/2609.25704/): Shows that mean-variance portfolio selection and the constrained LASSO trace identical piecewise-linear solution paths, mapping their parametrizations exactly.
- [DeePM: Regime-Robust Deep Learning for Systematic Macro Portfolio Management](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/arxiv/2601.05975/): Deep Learning for Portfolio Management: DeePM uses deep learning to improve macro portfolio management, delivering better risk-adjusted returns than traditional methods across various economic conditions.
- [Regulating Cash Holdings: Assessing Lost Returns in Mutual Funds](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/ssrn/4478272/): Israeli mutual funds hold excessive cash, indicating a need for better liquidity management to reduce redemption risks.
- [Effective and Scalable Programs to Facilitate Labor Market Transitions for Women in Technology](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/arxiv/2211.09968/): In Poland, cheap online portfolio challenges and one‑on‑one mentoring sharply increased women’s tech employment, and data-driven targeting improved admissions.
- [A mathematical study of the excess growth rate](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/arxiv/2510.25740/): - Excess Growth - Excess Rate - Growth Excess - Surplus Growth - Overgrowth - Growth Surplus Recommended: Excess Growth (keeps meaning but is more concise).: The paper proves that a central portfolio metric—the excess growth rate—can be exactly described using basic information‑theory ideas and a few natural axioms. In short, it shows that the extra growth a portfolio achieves is essentially an information quantity, so portfolio performance can be understood like information gain.
- [Signed network models for portfolio optimization](https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/arxiv/2510.05377/): The study shows that using negative edges in weighted signed network representations of financial markets can help reduce portfolio risk, performing on par with traditional models.
