<<Now the reining philosophy seem to be that it's alright to fall in love if the stock has the right characteristic. I read the book, it makes sense, it just takes me a little while to fully change my ways.>> TP
<<during Christmas week last week,...I was touting the wonders of QCOM to anyone who would listen. My Dad, an uncle, and others are in Qcom; but I must have looked like a lunatic to people.......they kept urging me not to "get emotional about a stock". I hope I am still objective, but I am sure I look like I'm stark raving mad to some people. Thank God my wife seems to understand.>>
You're both right. :0)
I think the difference is time and familiarity--the longer TP stays with Q and the more he knows about it, the more he is likely to come to "love" it like many here do. That is, if the story doesn't change significantly for the worse.
Let me offer a few personal examples. I first bought in to Q from 160-190 back in August, and then within a couple of weeks watched it drop back to the 150s. I was doing my damndest not to be petrified, whistling past the graveyard, hoping the drop was all just FUD, etc. Sure enough, it recovered, but being underwater with a supposed gorilla was scary and unsettling, and made me question everything I thought I "knew." As the fall and winter progressed, I learned even more about the business and the stock shot up. Now I truly can take large drops entirely in stride, and even look on them as the proverbial "buying opportunities." When Q tanked last week after the Kyocera announcement, I jumped right in the next day and picked up some OTM LEAPS. No reason for TP to hurry; if we're all correct, his comfort level will rise in time.
As for BB's spouse understanding his affair with Q, I have already posted here that professor tekgirl now has a similar attitude (altho she still doesn't want to hear about it constantly<GGG>). You could call this fall the "Dr. Strangelove" fall in the tek household: its subtitle was, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." :0)
Finally, I've been touting Q (and JDSU) for months to a good buddy who's a hot shot investment banker. Although he bought into Q for a token amount back in August, he has always been skeptical and deeply patronizing. Over the course of several months, however, that's slowly been eroding, and in early December he asked me, "hypothetically," of course, whether I would still invest in tech stocks and if so, when and which ones (his bonus was coming up). I said do it right then, and recommended splitting his bonus into five chunks: 40% Q, 15% JDSU, 15% GMST, 15% SEBL, and 15% NTAP.
10 days later, back from vacation, he called me amazed at how my choices had rocketed upward. I asked him how much he had made, and he said "nothing, because I didn't take your advice." So again, he asks, are you still recommending these things? surely they can't continue to go up? Laughing, I said "sure they can." A couple of days later he calls again, with schadenfreude about the Q decline after the handset sale announcement: "what does 'the thread' think?" he asked (really!). I calmly said, hey, we love the deal, we trust Dr. J., I'm buying on the dip.
Last night he called in shock, speaking in hush tones. Turns out he had finally taken my advice and bought in around 470, and picked up JDSU at the same time (finally). I laughed my head off, and told him that he better get into GMST too, or he'd be sorry. "Nah, Gemstar's a dog," he said, "way too risky, no upside potential. But QCOM and JDSU, they're ok." :0)
moral of the story: anyone who hangs around these gorillas long enough should start to love them, but the street at large will respect them only after they've sustained a crazy run-up for a while.
:0)
bubbleboy/Ares@soit'salongpost,sowhat.com |
