Hello Friends! Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice! As always, please remember that I am an amateur investor, so please consult with your professional investment advisers prior to making any investment decisions based on information on this website.
I wanted to share with all of you my own disappointment at having to part ways with my recent purchase of 134 shares of Ecolab (ECL) that I had just purchased on 2/6/09 at a cost basis of $35.54. I sold these shares earlier today in the midst of the continued market correction at a price of $31.5948. This represented a loss of $(3.9452)/share or (11.1)% since purchase. (As I write, ECL is recovering somewhat trading at $32.04/share for a loss today of $(2.21) or (6.45)%.
After an initial purchase of stock, my own trading strategy dictates a sale at an (8)% loss regardless of the duration of my ownership of that stock. And that includes selling shares after only 6 days!
With this sale on a decline, which for me means a sale on 'bad news', I am back to my minimum of 5 positions and shall be 'sitting on my hands' with the proceeds of this sale--thereby moving once again a little more into cash and away from equities!
What triggered the slide today was apparently the disappointment in the 4th quarter 2008 earnings results which were announced today. Excluding one-time expenses, earnings game in at $.45/share, unchanged from last year and in line with expectations of $.45/share. Revenue, which climbed 3% in the quarter to $1.48 billion from $1.44 billion was a bit 'light' from where analysts had pegged the company---$1.51 billion.
In addition, the company reduced expectations about the current quarter, guiding now to $.30 to $.34/share, well below analysts' expectations of $.41/share.
Even though full-year guidance was essentially in line with expectations, the disappointment on last quarter's revenue and the decreased guidance for the current quarter, was enough to make investors turn tail on this stock and resulted in my own sale as the stock hit and passed the (8)% loss limit for me.
Thank you for visiting my blog and allowing me to share with you my own experiences, albeit disappointing today, in investing in this uncertain market. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on the blog or email me at bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com.
Yours in investing,
Bob