Would you invest in your own stock?
February 22, 2012
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RELATED TICKERS: AAPL
, PG
, SIRI
We watch companies and analyze their quarterly announcements and stock prices. We ponder about future guidance, try to make sense of the past and drill down into current financial markets. We have a good idea about what we want to invest in, what companies we think are hot and which we wouldn't dare touch. Think for a second if you yourself were a publicly traded company. How well would your stock be performing?
Reflect on your current situation, your relationships or even your current financial status. Is your job up to your expectations? Do you have positive cash flow? Perhaps you have $100 billion in the bank like Apple Inc. (or $100 thousand.) Maybe you expect a raise this quarter and would therefore boost your future earnings. How about your close relationships, is there high tension or talks of losing customers? Maybe you have a new friendship or business partner that will make a great acquisition. These are analogies, but you catch the drift.
How do you picture your future? Is it a penny stock on high speculation, with high hopes and big risks or rather a blue chip with stability and consistent results. Are you paying dividends regularly to yourself and others invested in you, similar to The Proctor & Gamble Company? You may find that you are shorting for the future and not investing for the long haul. Management should be strong and employees happy. If you're not treating yourself right, maybe its time for a new CEO or mindset to take the reigns.
Look at your stock's 52 week high and low. What is the best and worst thing that happened to your share price within the last year? Think about when you were beaten down and selling off. Did the last years of your life resemble Sirius XM Radio, seemingly at rock bottom only to make a stratospheric climb? Perhaps it was a great opportunity in disguise to learn from mistakes and go all in for the rebound.
This is a great exercise to use when looking at not only your future, but your past and present. Hopefully your share price is on track to be a high performer.
I currently hold positions in AAPL, PG and SIRI.