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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: KyrosL who wrote (49690)11/13/1999 5:25:00 AM
From: Mike Torrence  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 152472
 
KyrosL,
In nearly twenty years of investing I have never seen anything like Qs recent run. Four Friday's ago Q closed the session at 198.5 (10/15). Unbelievable! That's a gain of 90.4% in twenty trading sessions. I am extremely grateful and I feel very lucky. Now my challenge is to hold on. I stated in my original SI profile that I was an "investor", not a "trader". We shall see if I can really be an investor. It's like having a tiger by the tail. I have no interest in playing with options (writing calls, buying puts or writing them etc.). I've got to remember that this is only the beginning of the wireless revolution. This is the first inning. Part B of my strategy is to spend less time in front of the computer. It's too easy for me to get nervous and book this profit prematurely and in my opinion any sale of Q in the next three to five years will be premature.
Anyway, that's my game plan.
Congratulations to all Q longs. It's been a great week.
MiQe Torrence



To: KyrosL who wrote (49690)11/13/1999 7:47:00 AM
From: marginmike  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 152472
 
I am in it for the long term. I buy the dips. I simply think we have topped short term. This MCI/WCOM story could be the catalyst for a litlle sell off.



To: KyrosL who wrote (49690)11/13/1999 12:19:00 PM
From: PAL  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 152472
 
MM, what are you doing about it? Selling calls? Buying puts? Selling the stock?

Read Monday's front page article of IBD which uses Qualcomm as an example as what to do with a stock that has a big runup. The article has not been posted online, so you have to get a hardcopy. Buy puts? They cost a pretty penny. Sell calls? You are taking out yourself of the big money. Remember JDS Uniphase? The last paragraph says:

"If a stock seems to be hitting a peak, it's cheaper and easier to sell at least some of the shares outright. You can always repurchase the stock after the dust settles - even at higher price."

The boldface is mine. To me Q is far from hitting a peak. I am still buying at least through 400, however at smaller amount. Who knows, nest week the sale of Q handset will be announced. Could you imagine how many mutual fund managers are nervous for not having QCOM in their portfolio? If memory serves me right, there are currently about 10,000 mutual funds out there. How about pension funds, endowments, etc?

Here is a front page article in IBD 11/12/99 showing why averaging up at smaller amounts makes sense

Buying Up Reduces Risk, Raises Rewards

Date :11/12/1999

Two thoughts cross our minds when we plunge into a stock: "I?d like to make a big profit" and "I want to avoid a heavy loss."
Achieving both has a lot to do with how you build your position.
No matter how many shares you buy initially, you can keep any loss to a manageable level. Just adhere to an ironclad rule of selling if a stock falls 7% or 8% from your buy point.
You also can manage risk by buying more shares as the stock rises. That may sound imprudent, but what works on Wall Street doesn?t always seem comfortable at first. Executed properly, averaging up in price leverages your gains and minimizes potential losses.
It works like this: After deciding how large a dollar position you want in a quality stock, invest, say, half that amount just as it breaks out of a sound price base in heavy trading volume. Then look to add smaller dollar amounts at key, yet higher, prices. Buying up means you?re buying a stock that?s working. It?s a confirmation your first purchase was sound.
Sapient], a Cambridge, Mass.-based Internet strategy consultant, shows how this pyramiding strategy can work. The stock broke out of a seven-month consolidation on Aug. 23 to close at 70 on heavy volume. That took it easily above its pivot point at 673/4.
Let?s say you planned to invest $10,000 in the stock. You might have put $5,000 into the stock when it rose to 677/8, or 1/8 above its pivot. Sapient rose as high as 703/8 that day, less than the 5% threshold where a stock becomes too extended from its breakout and prone to a pullback.
The stock gained the next two days, rising about 10% from its pivot point. It then faded back the following two sessions to close at 697/8 on Aug. 27. Volume on those down days was well below the stock?s average over the prior 50 days of trade. The next day on Aug. 30 - the fifth day after the breakout - the stock edged higher to 701/8.
At that price, the stock was just 3% ahead of its breakout point, within the 5% boundary. It offered a chance to add perhaps $3,000 to your position. Your average cost would have risen to about 69 per share. But it would have been worth it: Sapient continued to rise steadily before leaping nearly 5 points on Sept. 10 on heavy trade.
The stock consolidated its initial gains for the next five weeks, drifting down to the mid-80s in lighter volume as it approached its 50-day moving average for the first time since the breakout. That?s an ideal moment to complete your position. Most winning growth stocks will bounce off that line, which is simply the average price over the past 50 days. Sapient acted accordingly. It now trades near 70 following its 2-for-1 split this week.
A common mistake is to start off small and add larger portions to your position as the stock advances. Such a strategy exposes you to a stinging pullback. You could end up with a loss even on a rising stock, cautions David Ryan, head of Los Angeles-based Ryan Capital Management. "You can buy stocks on pullbacks, but you have to watch the volume and have to watch the support points closely."

Copyright: Investor's Business Daily.


Good Qluck

Paul