Money and Finance

How do you pick your stocks?

I made so many mistakes by picking stocks.

Through my stock purchase life I used these strategies:

- just because I thought it was a good company (I bought BBW in 2008 when every kid thought it was a must to have, still have in my portfolio... )

- listened to analysts and opinions (I did not buy Apple when it was down to 350 while I really wanted to, just because I kept reading articles and reviews)

- just because the stock reached 52 weeks range low ( I bought Eastman Kodak at their lows but then got greedy and did not sell it when it went up, hoping it would get even higher, and then it became worthless. But I bought KKD at their lowest and then sold them last year with a good profit).

- calculated stocks by Rule#1 (Apple stock again)

- investing $$$ amount every month in a good stock ( Starbucks was a good stock, PEP is still doing good, PM, T is ok but I bought part of stock at high price)

So far I have two strategies which work for me

Strategy one

- make a list of stocks I want to buy ( I check their overall performance and statements), mostly dividends earning stocks

- watch them daily until price drop

- buy at the price drop as long as it close to 52 weeks range low

Strategy two

- look into Daily Losers list on Yahoo

- pick stocks which I like (if what they are doing are make sense to me plus their statements and overall performance in my risk tolerance area)

- start watching these stocks

- follow strategy one

Strategy two is kind of weird. I did not buy so many stocks I put on my list but I watched them go down on bad news and then came back. I plan to sell these stocks some day and find new ones to invest.

Here are some examples for Strategy two:

ARIA - bought at $3.47 per stock when they were prohibited from sales in the USA, now this stock is up to $7.48

EXPE - bought at $51.70 per stock on bad earnings report, now this stock is up to $72.38

BJRI - bought at $25.97 per stock on bad earnings report, now this stock is up to $30.45

Some latest examples for Strategy One:

FTR bought at $4.47 per stock, now this stock is up to $5.91 plus dividends

WIN bought at $7.31 per stock, now this stock is up to $8.98 plus dividends

KO bought at $37.64 pers tock, now this stock is up to $40.73 plus dividends

I also check Insider Trading Activity and see if people who really know what's going on are buying or selling their shares.

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Money and Finance