Don: Along the lines of the article, I ran across this quote which I found astounding [They are talking about a somewhat different and unspecified group which might account of the difference]: "As reported in The Economist on Jan. 27, 2001, Smithers and Co. examined the true profits of America's biggest companies and found that--adjusted for stock options--profits were only 37% of those reported in 1998.".
<<I often feel a certain amount of guilt when I fail to bite my tongue and jump bearish on someone's favorite stock after taking a look at the filings, but it's hard not to for anyone who knows where to dig up the bodies.>>I sometimes feel the same about making negative comments about someones new pride and joy, but I would personally rather someone here point out the warts on my pick than have the market do so. I often buy stocks with visible warts yet sometimes fail to recognize how ugly the situation can get. The comment in Llackey's post "all stocks that go bankrupt at some point in their collapse show up on a quant value screen" rings true. I recall mentioning a purchase of Safety Kleen, an old Peter Lynch fav. Jim Clarke said it looked like a candidate for BK, I looked closer and sold with a tiny loss. Sure enough, it sailed into bankruptcy. So one of the reasons I post stuff is to get the negative takes of others looking from different perspectives. They are doing me a big favor. And when I jump on someone elses pick...that's the spirit behind it. On so many boards, if you offer a negative take on something, you're the enemy...they look for approval and praise rather than understanding what sellers and shorts might know. A costly mistake, methinks. |
