Stocks that got away

Discuss your favourite picks, broker, and trading or investment style.
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The Wealthy Boomer
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Post by The Wealthy Boomer »

Sure, YOU bought MSFT when it went public in 1986 but most other investors did not. As NormR is bound to point out, I personally bought Apple just as he was buying just before the iPod took off. Sniff. How many here caught the Google IPO or gave it a pass at the time because of all the pundits who poo-poohed the idea? This thread is your chance to tell about the big stock that got away -- or even a few you actually snagged.
The Wealthy Boomer
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Post by The Wealthy Boomer »

Correction: I SOLD AAPL when Norm bought it a few years ago.
dagan
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Post by dagan »

[Restored from backup 2006-07-18]

Back in 1998/99 a little stock bid.com went on a wild ride from under $1 to over $10. The trading volumes and price volatility was very high. I was given a tip to buy this at $1. The person who provided this to me bought it @ $1 and sold it at $6, then bought it at $4 and sold it at $8. He made 12 times his money in just a few months. He still teases me about this and he never provided me another hot tip. The company later ran into hard times and was eventually acquired by another company. I can't figure out how to provide charts for that point in time. My secret sense of justice was that this person probably lost big in ensuing years.
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NormR
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Post by NormR »

The Wealthy Boomer wrote:Sure, YOU bought MSFT when it went public in 1986 but most other investors did not.  As NormR is bound to point out, I personally bought Apple just as he was buying just before the iPod took off. Sniff.  How many here caught the Google IPO or gave it a pass at the time because of all the pundits who poo-poohed the idea? This thread is your chance to tell about the big stock that got away -- or even a few you actually snagged.
Not to worry Boomer, I missed a few ...

My low ball bid on Hartco wasn't filled at just above $2, it's now at $5.50 - less than a year later.
Another low bid on Books-A-Million wasn't filled at about $2, it's now at $10.
John B. Sanfilippo from $6.77 to $16.89 but missed the ~$50 spike.
Providian in the $2-$3 range, its now $17.5.
Elan at about $2, it got up to ~$30 but I see that it is now back down to $6.50.

I think that I'll go get a beer now. Sniff! :(
The Wealthy Boomer
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Post by The Wealthy Boomer »

Speaking of big ones that got away, Google just passed US$300 for the first time in its short life.
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NormR
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Post by NormR »

The Wealthy Boomer wrote:Speaking of big ones that got away, Google just passed US$300 for the first time in its short life.

Code: Select all

Market Cap (intraday):	84.47B
Enterprise Value (27-Jun-05)³:	80.06B
Trailing P/E (ttm, intraday):	120.20
Forward P/E (fye 31-Dec-06)¹:	45.66
PEG Ratio (5 yr expected):	1.90
Price/Sales (ttm):	21.76
Price/Book (mrq):	23.08
Enterprise Value/Revenue (ttm)³:	21.10
Enterprise Value/EBITDA (ttm)³:	50.926
(Data for Google, from Yahoo;-) )
I'll take a pass. A fast climb is often accompanied by a quick descent...
bipendifudi
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Post by bipendifudi »

Here are a few I missed/sold early:
APPL - bought @ 13 something sold at 16
CLF - bought at 44 - sold at 42 something! stock went on to $85+
RIM - bought at 22 - sold at 24 something.

and a few others!!!

sigh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh well, you live and learn!

my winners:

DECK - bought at $22.10 - sold at $47 somehting
OVTI - bought at 12.35 sold at 17.29
NXTL - bought at $7.50 - sold at 24.28
KRB - bought at 21 something - sold at 26.48 (BoA bought it out last week)
DRL - bought at 10.30 - sold at 14.85 (bought it back again at 15.28 & holding !)
Sprott Energy - bought at inception $10 - sold 50% at 17 something.

!! cheers !!
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patriot1
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Post by patriot1 »

I used to work for Sierra Wireless and had the opportunity to exercise my options and sell at $120. Nah, I thought, it's been all the way up to $232 and surely it will go higher again.

Sigh :(
"I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'"
- Barack Obama
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