Neil, one must consider tax conequences before deciding to sell, and when buying as well. For example, I have been long on CSCO for 4+ yrs. I don't believe I am ever going to sell CSCO because I don't want to pay the cap-gain taxes. Now when the market turns down, I never worry about CSCO since selling it is never an option, but I will buy more of it only if its price looks really attractive and I can afford to hold it forever. With newer issues in my portfolio such as ASND, I trade back and forth. as I don't have a long term gain to protect. Also I am quite willing to trade in my IRA portfolio. But, over the years I find my buy and hold decisions to be doing much better than my cumulative short-term trades.
When I am in the market for buying a new security I look for large growth potential and, importantly, long-term holdability potential. Candidates that I feel fit the criteria, besides venerable CSCO are USRX, CSCC, ASND, ATML, CXC, ASTF -- all excellent buys right now. Do you agree? Do you have other candidates that I should be looking at?
Tulvio
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