John, I'm neither a broker nor a tout, but I try to be true to my philosophy, which is that if a company is growing, is a leader, making money, etc., and its management both smart and honest, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. EMC has had a couple of tremendous years, and their latest quarters were faily close to the record earnings of the year-ago quarters, in spite of the predatory pricing by weaker competitors. I'd give them another couple of quarters in a good business environment to see if they aren't going to pick up again.
I read somewhere that 95% of the movement in a given stock takes place in just 5% of the time--a fairly accurate observation that helps explain why market timers rairly win. Relative to this line, I just looked up MSFT after re-reading a Forbes Aug 95 piece on great stocks. I was rather surprised to see that Microsoft was selling last August almost exactly where it's trading today--this, in spite of the tremendous past two quarters. So go figure.
I wish I could guarantee you wouldn't lose money on EMC or any other stock (hell, I wish I could guarantee me), but sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I have a good feeling about this one and think it may show some life soon. Make your own decision, and good luck. |
