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Technology Stocks : Nortel Networks (NT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Master (Hijacked) who wrote (8452)	11/12/2000 5:20:56 AM
From: SJS	Respond to of 14638

Vince, Don't ever forget this is a game of self-preservation. No one but you gets the profits, and no one but you takes the loses. It's is impossible to blame everyone selling NT for "costly you dearly". It's also emotional. Looking at the money flow on NT, it's not the little guys moving the millions of shares. It's institutions. They don't read this stuff on SI, and make decisions. They don't do it emotionally. They trade with conviction. They want in, they buy, and you enjoy the ride up. They want out, they sell (and if you're long and stay long), and you get mauled. So it's really impossible to say any individual seller is the cause. Really impossible. If investors who read SI are buying and selling on some thread banter without DD, then shame on them. However, these micro-investors are NOT moving this stock as demonstrated in the last 3 weeks. One more though: Calculus. Rate of change. WS think that the rate of growth for optics has gotta slow. You can't stop them from thinking that and acting upon their convictions. Which means selling. If a fund manager with 3 million shares of NT came to SI and said: "I am selling 60% of my shares because NT is overweighted in my portfolio, and they are not growing as fast as I expect my top 5 stocks to do". How are you gonna change his mind? You're not going to. Steve

To: Master (Hijacked) who wrote (8452)	11/13/2000 10:52:47 AM
From: unix_daemon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14638

Cut your losses early. My post did not discuss when to buy, Vince, instead: when to sell. You misunderstand, my selling decision are not driven by emotion. My selling decision is based solely on this principle: capital preservation is paramount. My primary goal is to minimize capital loss. If I decide to buy a stock I realize that decision may be wrong. To remove emotion from the "when to sell" decision I decide before I buy when to sell if the stock turns against me. Immediately after the purchase I place a stop loss order at 9% under the purchase price. I find that capping my loss at 9% achieves that objective. Thus emotion takes no part in my decision to sell. The sale, if it happens, is mechanized. So many investors I know continue to watch their stock fall day after day until they finally sell in fit of panic. I will not fall into that trap. I can handle a loss of 9% because I know that the winners I pick will make up for that loss. If the stock moves upward, I move the stop loss upward also. Of course I have been shaken out of stocks. I've seen stocks turn back upward after I sell. I am very willing to let that happen because I have seen stocks I've sold continue to retreat. Another misunderstanding you have, Vince, is that I advocate buying stocks on fundamentals. I have yet to discuss on this forum what drives my purchase decision. I've only discussed when to sell. I believe that both fundamental and technical analysis must be used in the "when to buy" decision. Buying stocks in a bear market works for some, but I will not buy in a bear market. This is not a complete discussion of my buying and selling discipline. It is only an overview of "when I sell". I realize that others have disciplines that work. The key word is discipline: building a plan of investment that works for you. My discipline works for me. Warren Buffet, William O'Neil, Michael Price, Victor Sperandeo, Peter Lynch, and Mario Gabelli all have different disciplines, different approaches to making money in the stock market. All are successful. I have no personal quarrel with you, Vince. I am simply stating my position; your's is different, and there is room in this forum for a diversity of argument. In your post you talk of a "solid ship". That is a subjective statement that I can't agree with. I don't think the purpose of investing is to own stocks; the purpose is to make money. If a stock continues to drop from one's purchase price the bottom line is: you have a loss.