Certainly not going to get into a pissing contest about investments with @melgross...
However, it is easier for an investor-in-training to make trading decisions involving hundreds of dollars rather than tens of thousands of dollars.
From my experience, I could experiment with $17-$25 per share investment ideas -- but if it is a large percentage of your portfolio, a $700-$2,000 per share stock is not fungible.
My point was that you will invest the same amount of money either way. It makes no matter whether you buy one share at $700, or 10 shares at $70. I know there's a psychological difference between owning one share vs ten. But financially, there's no difference, as we all know. Stock prices move as a percentage, not in dollars. That is, it will move ten times as much for a share priced ten times as much, and the dividend will be the same in total as well.
Explaining to neophyte investors that it simply doesn't matter can be difficult, it's true, but nevertheless, it doesn't matter. And you, of all people should know that. I doubt you're going to make an investment of $200.
My typical advice to new investors is to never buy more than 20% of your portfolio in a single transaction. So, a $700 stock would mean that to buy a single share then need to have $3,500 ready to trade. An awful lot of people would never get involved with that kind of barrier. I know I started out with $2,000 hard-scraped together cash back in '98. (Bought Metricom, the maker of the Ricochet wireless modems. Made a pretty good profit too for a while...)
Lower share prices do make stocks more accessible. I don't think you need to get into penny-stock levels, but at least low enough that a block isn't over $5-10k.
I don't agree with that 20% bit. I've never owned more than four different stocks at once, and I've done very well, much better than people who believe in that "basket" nonsense. If you can't understand what makes a good investment, then stay away from it, and get a money market instead, or take a chance with munie's.
And you're talking a block of between $5-10k. You can certainly buy Apple with that. The number of shares is unimportant.
A lower share price would definitely make it easier to trade covered options.
Well, maybe, though I know a few people who do that with Apple anyway. Besides, they were complaining about small and neophyte investors who don't always understand that it's the total investment in a stock that matters, not how many shares it is.
See you guys at $1,000+. Fundamentals are just too good to see otherwise, and considering the info we DO have in iPhone 5 right now, unless it underperforms iPhone 4S, we'll see even more P/E contraction going forward, and nice year over year growth. Those estimates are through the roof crazy, but if Apple can even get near said lofty estimates, the stock is forced to claw its way up, EVEN WITH a low P/E (a P/E correction to the upside and $1,000 would come quicker than any of us can even think).
See you guys at $1,000+. Fundamentals are just too good to see otherwise, and considering the info we DO have in iPhone 5 right now, unless it underperforms iPhone 4S, we'll see even more P/E contraction going forward, and nice year over year growth. Those estimates are through the roof crazy, but if Apple can even get near said lofty estimates, the stock is forced to claw its way up, EVEN WITH a low P/E (a P/E correction to the upside and $1,000 would come quicker than any of us can even think).
First thing traders learn (usually the hard way) is that fundamentals don't matter.
And once stocks get up to huge market caps, all that really matters is dividends. There always has to be an 'end game' for a stock. A way for the market to regain the money put into the stock. There's only 2 scenarios - share buybacks and dividends. Share price increases only last so long, if they lasted forever the market would essentially be a Ponzi scheme.
I'd personally bet that Apple has topped out, or close to it. The market is saturated with devices, investors expect too much of Apple now, and there's a million hedge funds who will be looking to sell for profit. Technical indicators would tell you that right now, there's alot more potential sellers than buyers. IMO, AAPL will probably slowly drift down to whatever price would give a 5% dividend, and then it will hover there for a long time, kind of like MSFT.
Hmm.... I'm getting the impression that these traders (traitors?) are making a joke. $666? Uh, yeah. There's no such thing as stock manipulation.
Apple's market cap and average volume are such that it's unlikely a single fund would be able to influence the price all that much...
There IS such thing as stock manipulation, but to manipulate the price on a large cap stock would require collusion between many funds, and would involve risks (say you short a bunch of shares to drive the price down, someone else could snag them and drive the price back up). You see signs of manipulation more on small-cap, small volume equities.
Another down day BTW. Edit - looks like it's bouncing back and rallying, as the markets are.
Comments
My point was that you will invest the same amount of money either way. It makes no matter whether you buy one share at $700, or 10 shares at $70. I know there's a psychological difference between owning one share vs ten. But financially, there's no difference, as we all know. Stock prices move as a percentage, not in dollars. That is, it will move ten times as much for a share priced ten times as much, and the dividend will be the same in total as well.
Explaining to neophyte investors that it simply doesn't matter can be difficult, it's true, but nevertheless, it doesn't matter. And you, of all people should know that. I doubt you're going to make an investment of $200.
I don't agree with that 20% bit. I've never owned more than four different stocks at once, and I've done very well, much better than people who believe in that "basket" nonsense. If you can't understand what makes a good investment, then stay away from it, and get a money market instead, or take a chance with munie's.
And you're talking a block of between $5-10k. You can certainly buy Apple with that. The number of shares is unimportant.
Well, maybe, though I know a few people who do that with Apple anyway. Besides, they were complaining about small and neophyte investors who don't always understand that it's the total investment in a stock that matters, not how many shares it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Not many long-term investors bother with options (nor should they).
It's a way to make additional gains on your long holdings.
I personally haven't bothered, for several reasons.
See you guys at $1,000+. Fundamentals are just too good to see otherwise, and considering the info we DO have in iPhone 5 right now, unless it underperforms iPhone 4S, we'll see even more P/E contraction going forward, and nice year over year growth. Those estimates are through the roof crazy, but if Apple can even get near said lofty estimates, the stock is forced to claw its way up, EVEN WITH a low P/E (a P/E correction to the upside and $1,000 would come quicker than any of us can even think).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Godzilla
See you guys at $1,000+. Fundamentals are just too good to see otherwise, and considering the info we DO have in iPhone 5 right now, unless it underperforms iPhone 4S, we'll see even more P/E contraction going forward, and nice year over year growth. Those estimates are through the roof crazy, but if Apple can even get near said lofty estimates, the stock is forced to claw its way up, EVEN WITH a low P/E (a P/E correction to the upside and $1,000 would come quicker than any of us can even think).
First thing traders learn (usually the hard way) is that fundamentals don't matter.
And once stocks get up to huge market caps, all that really matters is dividends. There always has to be an 'end game' for a stock. A way for the market to regain the money put into the stock. There's only 2 scenarios - share buybacks and dividends. Share price increases only last so long, if they lasted forever the market would essentially be a Ponzi scheme.
I'd personally bet that Apple has topped out, or close to it. The market is saturated with devices, investors expect too much of Apple now, and there's a million hedge funds who will be looking to sell for profit. Technical indicators would tell you that right now, there's alot more potential sellers than buyers. IMO, AAPL will probably slowly drift down to whatever price would give a 5% dividend, and then it will hover there for a long time, kind of like MSFT.
Wow. What a day for the stock today. Large 2.5% drop. Oof! Well, it's a good day for the shorts, but just another day for us longs.
Hmm.... I'm getting the impression that these traders (traitors?) are making a joke. $666? Uh, yeah. There's no such thing as stock manipulation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
Hmm.... I'm getting the impression that these traders (traitors?) are making a joke. $666? Uh, yeah. There's no such thing as stock manipulation.
Apple's market cap and average volume are such that it's unlikely a single fund would be able to influence the price all that much...
There IS such thing as stock manipulation, but to manipulate the price on a large cap stock would require collusion between many funds, and would involve risks (say you short a bunch of shares to drive the price down, someone else could snag them and drive the price back up). You see signs of manipulation more on small-cap, small volume equities.
Another down day BTW. Edit - looks like it's bouncing back and rallying, as the markets are.