Last edited Thu Feb 6, 2020, 02:54 PM - Edit history (1)
I bought 4 shares in late 2018 at around $200 thinking I would just hold it, because I believed in the concept and Mr. Musk, but I did the exact thing I and most competent advisors would advise AGAINST...... (Edit here to note that the previous sentence is worded weirdly! I would like to THINK I am a competent advisor, but....oh, never mind! LOL)
I let my emotions guide my investment decisions.
I don’t have a large amount tied up in the two IRA’a I have (a Roth and a Traditional, both with E-Trade) so an $800 position in one issue was a large stake, particularly for a stock that paid no dividend.
So I watched it, daily....and got thrilled when it got to $383, before it began falling.
All along Musk was regularly saying things that were downright weird, and at one point claimed something (a buyout offer? I forget) that sent the shares up well over 10% in one day, only to be beaten up over the next few days as the story unraveled. It even brought on a fine by the SEC, if I remember correctly. The bears hated Tesla and the Bulls loved it. At one point it was the most shorted issue on the street, eventually losing those shorting the stock something like $60 BILLION!!
Then Musk was shown on Camera, on Joe Rogan’s PodCast smoking a joint, certainly not illegal in California at the time, but the New York Financial establishment went nuts. One large firm published their “Sell” rating with a target price of $10! TEN FUCKING DOLLARS!
Now I may have the chronology wrong, but the point is, TSLA went up and down and up and down after reaching that $380 point and I traded it several times.
I sold at near $340, bought again in the low $200’s, sold again and so on, about 5 cycles in and out, finally getting out around $240 as it was falling fast. After all that dopey nonsense, and showing a total profit of about $80 after the $7 (Then, now they are zero) commission per trade. I decided that watching this roller coaster was too much for me, and gave up.
What a fucking dumbass! I changed my mind when it got back to my original purchase price ($202, if memory serves) and put in a Limit order for 4 shares at $175.
Fuck me sideways, it got down to $176.99, turned and pretty much never looked back!
I missed getting 4 shares at my limit price by a DOLLAR AND NINETY NINE FUCKING CENTS!!!!
The point is this;
Never, and I mean NEVER allow your emotions to rule your investing decisions. If you like a stock or fund of any kind, and you have solid reasons for investing, stick with it! But you have to be able to sleep at night. MY stupidity here is that the most I was going to lose was just a bit more than a monthly car payment. A dopey amount to base such shitty decisions on.
I screwed up, utterly. In the last few days, the share price has made more than the initial cost of the share I bought over a year ago. In other words, it’s up way more than $202 in just a couple trading sessions.
Now, the question you asked is “Are you a buyer?” Well, I would be, but now the fucking shares are almost A GRAND A PIECE!
There are bulls out there saying Tesla will go to $6000. Yahoo’s 1Yr target price was just updated, but is now at $441. So even they think it will fall from where it is.
Estimates are all over the place for stock in a car maker that has really not shown a profit yet. Sure, they have had a profitable quarter here and there, but they go through cash like I go though........whatever it is I go through a lot of!
But they have a compelling story and products people seem to want to buy, even though they are on the pricey side. Not to mention their new assembly plant in China and the potential for that enormous market, plus their home solar panels, etc. etc.
I read one pundit say last year, just after I sold out, that everyone that WANTS to buy a $100,000 electric car, had already done so, and that was the explanation for the lagging sales at the time. A Tesla buyer was basically the same type of person as a BMW or an Audi or a Mercedes buyer. Well, sales figures of all types, particularly in the automotive sector, rise and fall all the time, and if they get the new model produced in sufficient numbers to make the price competitive, and stay ahead of the competition, I think Tesla has a lot of future potential.
BUT.....
I am by no means an analyst, so individuals thinking of making ANY purchase of ANY security must do their own research. My biggest mistake was reading TOO MUCH and allowing myself to be influenced by people who, as it turned out, were fucking dead wrong.
So again, nothing I typed above is to be taken as a recommendation to buy, nor a solicitation to purchase shares of Tesla. I am a casual investor with a small portfolio, that unless I hit an enormous home run with something I bought cheap (like if General Electric were to somehow go to $1000/share) there is no way I can retire on what I have saved up.
So....it’s interesting to watch, anyway. I am utterly beside myself for selling out, but oh well! Live and learn.
If it falls to that Yahoo target, I’ll buy again!! LOL
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