I'd like to add some perspective to the current wave of euphoria related to the success of Qualcomm's stock. To do that I need to first attribute some comments to particularly revered people in our thread:
Awhile back Frank said that Qualcomm is the best stock he's ever owned. Lindy just wrote that yesterday was probably the best day in financial terms that many of us has ever had.
I can't tell you how thrilled I am for both of them. Yet we all need to focus on the expectation that for long-term investors buying quality companies for whatever reason (though I strongly believe gorilla criteria offer the best reasons) there will be even better days to come. I don't know if it will be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, the next decade or all above the above, but for those who maintain the same discipline that got them to this level of success today, there will be many more successful days in the future.
Is Qualcomm my best stock to date? On an annualized basis, probably yes. But annualized returns on such a short term basis (whether good or bad) can be highly misleading.
I can identify three stocks which were, if I remember correctly, at least 7-baggers and one of them was the stock of a retail hardware company! That's three stocks which, in my way of looking at things, Qualcomm has yet to live up to by a wide margin because it hasn't yet increased my wealth to the same extent using at least one important measure.
When it comes to yesterday's increase in the value of my portfolio, I had an even larger increase in dollar value three years ago even though my portfolio was one-fourth the size that it is today. (Hmmm, though the first part of that sentence was intended to be the essence of my point, perhaps that last part is even more revealing.)
When I see that Bruce has a stock that increased 40,000% over a long period of time, THAT is the kind of success that makes me happy for Lindy, Frank, and all of us who have the same discipline Bruce has -- to hold a terrific company for the long term so long as its prospects remain as originally identified or better.
For those with long-term discipline, this year's success only puts another notch on the investment belt. Just like the five-year-olds who mark their height on the closet door, it is nearly inevitable that there will be many more marks to come. Not to minimize Frank's or Lindy's recent and immediate success, but my real happiness for them is knowing this is just the beginning, that they will continue to pass their insights along and enable so many others to enjoy the same.
--Mike Buckley |
