Here is a perhaps too naive assessment---
Investors/traders have been basically spoiled by a bull market where one can make a lot of money very quickly, particularly if one is willing to buy those very high PE darling stocks du jour (like AOL). A long term hold for many people seems to be a month or two. There have been references on this thread to the drillers being "dead money" for perhaps six months. In reality, six months is not that long. Of course, if one had a sure place to invest for a huge return over those six months, it might be true that there's more to be gained by trading out of the dead money sector into the mo mo sector/stocks du jour. Then again, one could guess/divine/analyze incorrectly. Since the world at large is not likely to swear off a need for oil anytime soon, I have to believe that these stocks will come back into favor because the basic fundamentals appear to be sound. I, for one, will be pleased as punch if this occurs within the next 6 months. I did sell the majority of my holdings while I still had a profit. I also reinvested some money, unfortunately before one of the many erroneously called bottoms. I'm patiently waiting for what appears to be the propitious moment for a major re-investment in this sector. In the meantime, I'm largely in cash, but with no intention of selling any of these stocks which are currently trading below my re-entry points. In sum, I'm willing to be patient because my horizon is longer than 15 minutes. I also see no reason to take a loss in these stocks at this point because, frankly, the rest of the market is giving me the heebie geebies! Sorry for the rambling. Just my $.10 (since I passed $.02 several lines ago!)
mph |
