>>Anyone remember the hints I was giving awhile back?<< Oh, yes and you started getting really optimistic with perfect timing. Let us know a few weeks in advance of the inexplicable, seemingly unending declines which have periodically beset COHR over the years. I may not be able to post for a few weeks but I will be following developments here. In the meantime, here is an appropriate article re selling:
cbs.marketwatch.com
Full text below for the day this link is dead:
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Four rules for selling a stock
Knowing when to hold, when to cut losses
By Marshall Loeb, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:51 AM ET Feb 17, 2000
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Have you heard the story of the fellow who got in on the ground floor of Amazon.com -- and sold out when the stock doubled?
Poor guy! By selling when he did, he missed out on a tenfold runup in the share price the following year. Obviously, he pulled the trigger too soon.
But deciding when to sell a stock is the very hardest thing to do in the market. For many investors, selling a losing stock is like shaking some bad habit. It?s a painful step that you know is good for you, but you keep putting it off.
Deciding when to sell is tougher -- and often more important -- than deciding when to buy. If you do not buy a stock and the price rises, all you lose is an opportunity. But if you fail to sell a stock and the price falls, you lose real money.
Rules of the game
Here are four rules to guide you when the stock you love (or used to love) no longer loves you back:
When you buy a stock, set a target price that you expect it to reach within, say, a year. If it falls far short, unload it.
Also, if you bought a stock expecting favorable developments that then do not occur within a reasonable time, dump your shares. And if the expected does happen but the price of the stock does not move, purge that stock promptly.
So, Rule One is: Sell a stock that?s been a fundamental disappointment to you.
On the other hand, if the stock fully achieves your target price, or even exceeds it, consider selling off part of the shares.
Consequently, Rule Two is: Dump some -- but not all -- of a real winner. Our hapless Amazon investor should have sold some of his shares, but surely not all.
Also sell off at least part of your position if a stock rises so much that it throws your asset allocation out of kilter. If you want 30 percent of your portfolio to be in tech shares, but a couple of high-fliers have lifted that proportion to 50 percent, consider selling some of those tech shares.
Thus, Rule Three is: Trim down on stocks in your portfolio that have spurted or slumped so much that they have mucked up your asset allocation.
Last but not least
Rule Four is: Cut your losses. Never hesitate to sell because you are behind. You could wind up even farther behind.
The late, great Wall Street analyst Charles Rolo recommended that you consider dumping a New York Stock Exchange issue if it declines 15 percent from the price at which you bought it. Nasdaq stocks are more volatile, so give them more leeway. Sell if they decline 20 percent to 25 percent.
Often the behavior of the stock will tell you that your love affair is getting too hot not to cool down. One sign is if the market is rising and trading volume in the issue is heavy, but still it fails to advance in price. Another is when the stock is not making gains similar to those of others in its industry.
Whenever and whatever you do sell, it?s much better to sell shares that you have held for a year plus one day or more. The proceeds from these sales qualify as long-term capital gains, so the federal income tax on your profits will be no more than 20 percent. But any stock you hold for less than a year and a day will be taxed at your regular income tax rate: up to 39.6 percent at the federal level, plus state and local income taxes.
Of course, you don?t want tax considerations to dominate your investment strategy. But whenever you have a reasonable choice between long-term and short-term gain, it?s clearly better to go long term.
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