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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sig who wrote (55384)	7/31/1998 4:47:00 AM
From: Sig	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176387

Comments on investing in stocks or calls:(IMO's)(gg) (Other than Dell)!! Perhaps 2/3 of success in investing can be attributed to cutting losses. 1. If a stock does not perform (go up) or it drops shortly after purchase I will try to sell it before a 15% loss. I have either misjudged it, been duped by an analyst,or believed some company produced hype. I also try to avoid getting "taken in" by mass produced and repetitive media propaganda concerning airlines, oils, gold or categories such as small-cap stocks. 2. You have to pay for quality. Dell , msft,lu, csco are not cheap stock. I very seldom consider the price level in selecting a stock. In the past have bought Dell at $120, msft at 140,(pre-splits)and yhoo at 180. And the higher priced ones have done better than cheaper ones for me( Don't take this too seriously,because your own experience is a far better guide) 3. In regard to calls, if I kept each purchased call to maturity, perhaps 60% to 80% of 'cheap' calls would expire worthless. So I work to prevent that by selling 1/2 when they have doubled in value, so I reckon my 'complete losses' to be around 30 to 40%. 4. Success or failure in calls are greatly related to the market conditions, pick a bad strike month (Nov 1997) and the money invested is history, so I try to mix the months and strike prices. (Like aug, nov, jan, and leaps) 5. Cheap calls are a bit like used cars, you can't pay too little for a bad one, nor too much for a good one At this moment 80% of my cheap calls (<$4) are down an average of about 50%. But 96% of my expensive calls (cost from $5 to $33) are up substancially. The cheap ones are ericy,cpq,hboc,zap The expensive ones are Dell, msft,mrk,csco,lu 6. I am still running @95% Dell, attemps to diwersify did not work last year, are not working this year. Dell is the Mother of all stocks. Admitted to by the Street, stock of the decade. Still, for excitement, experience, and perhaps a few extra bucks, it is fun to play with yhoo, aol, mspg,rmbs, etc. Sig