Incyte CEO Roy Whitfield gives biotech investors and patent critics a few lessons on genomic research. Since then, of course, the company's problems have compounded. If Lewis was right, he was certainly ahead of his time. It has to do with the fact that what investors like most, more even than they like profits, is a Sure Thing. They hate it even more than big, bruisey losses.
Investors tend to define themselves according to what kind of risks they're comfortable taking.
Thus were Microsoft, GE and Cisco until recently the world's three biggest companies by market cap. They never disappointed. And then there were two. And not knowing is, for many fund managers, simply not acceptable. Microsoft's current situation makes that impossible.