Guest JackRiver Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Okay, maybe not. Question: I am presently thinking about buying a particular stock at a current price of 50 and decide not to buy, but five minutes after I make this decision news breaks that's very negative with regards to the company and the stock plummets to 30. I decide to buy at 30, and five minutes later news breaks that the breaking news before was completely false and the stock shoots back up to 50. What should I do, buy, hold, or sell? Yours Jack River Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldye Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 At every price point there is your expected after tax rate of return, because you bought i'm assuming you know what the rate of return is at 30,40,50 etc. If at 50 the expected after tax rate of return is lower than the opportunity cost you gotta get out. short answer is reread Ben Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JackRiver Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Okay, and I follow you and let's say that the threshold was not met and that is why I decided not to buy at 50 originally, now what do I do, do I sell? Forget about taxes, it's in an IRA. Yours Jack River Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ericopoly Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Okay, maybe not. Hah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd1 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 If you thought $50 was a buy, then $30 is a far better buy. If you thought $30 was a far better buy, did you invest more at $30 than you planned to at $50? Assuming you bought the same dollar amount, or more at $30, and it's now at $50 I'd sell the extra shares purchased at the lower price and continue to hold the initial dollar amount as planned. I'd re-invest the short-term windfall in my next winner (btw, no consideration given to tax implications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JackRiver Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 If you thought $50 was a buy, then $30 is a far better buy. If you thought $30 was a far better buy, did you invest more at $30 than you planned to at $50? Assuming you bought the same dollar amount, or more at $30, and it's now at $50 I'd sell the extra shares purchased at the lower price and continue to hold the initial dollar amount as planned. I'd re-invest the short-term windfall in my next winner (btw, no consideration given to tax implications. Ericd1 I said that I didn't buy originally at the 50. So I guess that means I didn't think it was a buy at 50. Does that change your reply to me? If it does or it doesn't, what should I do? Please if any others can help me with this as well. Ericopoly, nobody should say I don't at least have a little bit of humor in me. Yours Jack River Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Santayana Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Continue to hold and buy puts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldye Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Say you think the company is capable of increasing its value by 10$ a share/year. At 50$ you have a 20% ERR, at 30$ you get a 33% ERR, only reason you'd want to sell at 50 is if you could do better than 20% somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericd1 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Ok gotcha Jack, you were considering the purchase but didn't pull the trigger at $50...But you now own it with a $20 profit. If you didn't like it before at $50, take the $ and run. If you want to second guess your initial decision then pull your initial $ out and let the rest have a free ride! How about this one -- I liked GE at $18, liked it better at $10 and bought the leaps at $6. Now I'm up 67% on the leaps and down 44% on the stock. What do I do now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ericopoly Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Jack, What did you learn from these replies? I find that it would depend on why you didn't buy at 50. You never specified. A few possibilities I will list off hand: 1) You might have been sucking your thumb at $50 as Buffett did with Walmart (don't sell it at $50) 2) It might not be as good a value upon return back to $50 as the other stocks you traded for cash to buy at $30 (sell at $50 and trade back) 3) You might have studied it very well and simply don't find it to be a good value at 50 (sell at $50) etc... Any answer of mine is dependent on why you didn't buy. Buffett was simply waiting for a better price with Walmart before buying a bigger chunk, but he still thought it was a buy (he says so). You wrote: I said that I didn't buy originally at the 50. So I guess that means I didn't think it was a buy at 50. Don't guess, be specific if you can. Otherwise (if we're guessing) I would say, that the fact that you didn't buy at 50 doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't a buy at 50. It could be that you should have been buying at 50, but weren't doing so because you were anchored on getting some better price (a few percent lower), like Buffett did with Walmart for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharperDingaan Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 At $50 the stock was a marginal long-term investment. But ... change the framework & it looks very different. - Most would sell at $50 & take the quick $20 gain on the short-term investment. The long-term investment then gets reconsidered (wait for more certainty, sell a $50 put to reduce exposure, roll-in over multiple small purchases, etc). The $20 'risk reducing' cushion will not just bias the new decision towards purchase, but also how that purchase will be made. - The textbook example was the day FFH fell $140+ from manipulative shorting. 50% returns in mere hours was common, & successive short-term rollovers were the norm vs the exception. If you had acted on that day, the hold decision was much easier as there was allready a substantial cash gain in place. It also allowed you to be more objective after the fact. - Worth noting is that the 'mental accounting' is much stronger when the portfolio is concentrated - making out of the money calls or puts/margin calls more of a requirement (rude recognition that your beloved assumptions are sh*t). SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Broxburnboy Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 Sell, take the profit, reinvest in FFH and kiss the ground you're standing on for the opportunity to make money in such an environment. If the stock responds so volatilely to a news item, it probably isn't a good buy and hold candidate anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubuy2wron Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 The answer to the question is ignore the price and look to the value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smazz Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 The best time to buy a company is when there are no more questions to be answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NumquamPerdo Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 Here's what I would do: transfer the stock to your UBS account in Switzerland and sell immediately. The stock was obviously part of some hedge fund rumour-mongering scheme and the Feds are likely at your doorstep. Sell your house as soon as is practicable and disassociate yourself from your hedge fund buddies. Move to Guatemala; the current government is sympathetic towards North American white collar criminals and there is no extradition treaty with the US. Plus, Guatemalan women are beautiful and love gringos, especially ones with hedge fund cachet. May God have mercy on your soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calonego Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 NP - I love it! next time someone does this, please notify the board of your actions so we can all be involved... I mean, watch from the sidelines... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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