Oil/gas. I've missed the turn in this and other sectors (homebuilders) before. As stocks have reverted to mean (dropped), I've been slow, too slow, to sell. Perhaps I've not learned my lesson.
I've a basket of gas/oil stocks -- small/mid cap, US/Canadian, oil/oil shale. These companies have memories of the peak turning down. They say now they are committed to financial discipline and returning cash flow to investors (buybacks/debt reduction/dividends). The financial numbers from high oil prices make the stocks attractive. Perhaps that's what makes the these stocks dangerous to less-informed people like me.
I have found for me, of course I don't like losing money in stocks when I had it during their up cycle, but failed too late to take profits. (These sector downturns hurt.) But more painful - to me - is to find myself outside, looking in, tracking the stocks and a sector as it moves up, yet not have even a small few shares to go along.
So for me, it's been worth it to risk a few share initial buys earlier and recently, and occasionally to add more as the stocks continue to rise. Perhaps more psychological than financial benefit, but there it is.
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I expect the oil/gas situation (high prices) to continue for a while, so I'm also looking at suppliers to the oil industry as oil exploration and extraction continues and perhaps receives more emphasis. So a few tracking shares in VAL, NE, RIG,etc. |
