Home
>
Stocks & Mutual Fund
>
Stock Market Investing: Knowing When (and when not) to Sell

Stock Market Investing: Knowing When (and when not) to Sell

One of the greatest challenges of investing in stocks is developing a "sell discipline". Some of the most adept investors struggle with the decision of when to sell.

First, recognize that there are no absolute formulas to tell us to sell at precisely the right time. Instead, we'll need to consider a bundle of factors such as the investment's characteristics, the broad economy, and your own needs, with an eye to market trends. The answer will come from some combination of these hard-to-quantify characteristics.

If you'll need cash soon, for whatever reason, you should be more ready to sell, especially if a stock becomes less of a sure thing. Similarly, if the economy is weak, we might be more motivated to take profits (or even losses) in stocks which are sensitive to economic swings, while a strong economy might allow us to hold tight.

Most important, however, is the intrinsic value of the stock itself. A simple rule plays out here: buy when a stock is under-valued (when the stock sells for less than its intrinsic value), and sell when it is over-valued (priced above intrinsic value). The trick is measuring intrinsic value, which can be done many different ways. We'll talk about measuring intrinsic value more at another time, but regardless of how we measure it, we had to have an idea of what the company was actually worth when we bought it. So, if we reach that target, we can start thinking about taking profits. It isn't always necessary to sell out immediately, though. For a pure value stock, we should sell somewhere in that range, but if the company is expected to grow, we can wait longer and take advantage of that growth. Perhaps, as a rule of thumb, wait until the stock reaches a price double what we think it's worth. Of course, this is a personal decision, too, and depends on how patient you are, and how much you have invested. At this point, the "easy money" has already been made.

Market Trends. It is our firm position that market trends alone should never lead to buying or selling a stock. However, if we've already decided to sell, trend indicators, used carefully, can enhance profits. For example, if a stock is in a solid uptrend that shows no signs of slowing, it may be profitable to wait for the stock to approach a short-term top before selling. Beware that you don't hold too long. Better to sell early than late. Eventually the market will catch on to reality, so if your evaluation of the stock is right, the risk of holding on too long can be far greater than the small benefit from holding out for that extra dollar.

A few other errors to avoid:

Don't avoid selling because you're emotionally attached to a stock. Circumstances change over time. There's no reason to beat yourself up over it. Just dump the loser and move on.

Don't sell when panicked. Panic is an emotional response, and usually wells up when things aren't going your way but you can't tell why. Know why you want to act. Until you can make a judgment about why to sell, it's probably best to hold on and wait out the fear.

Don't sell when worried. In many ways, worry is similar to panic, if a bit milder. It is still an emotion, and one that should be controlled. Stocks are often said to "climb a wall of worry", which means that they will ease upward through difficult times. When news is worrisome, but not devastating, the only remaining catalysts are good things, as all the bad news has probably already been factored in by selling among the worrywarts.

Don't sell when bored. Just because a stock isn't moving doesn't mean it was a bad selection. It may just indicate that you're smarter (and therefore earlier) than the market hordes. If you're still convinced it was a good choice, hold firm and wait for everyone to catch on to your wisdom. Especially with value stocks, it can often take a year or longer before the mainstream recognizes a good stock, and that's when the price will start moving. Patience is a virtue.

In the end, every selling decision is a personal one, and must balance out all the factors we've mentioned. The most important rule, of course, is to sell when it benefits YOU.

To send comments or to learn more about Scott Pearson's Investment Management Services, visit http://www.valueview.net

Scott Pearson is an investment advisor, writer, editor, instructor, and business leader. As editor and publisher of Investor's Value View, a national investment newsletter, he provides general money tips and investment advice to readers, and demonstrates a special knack for locating the up-and-coming stocks in the burgeoning high-tech industries. As President and Chief Investment Officer of Value View Financial Corp., he offers investment management services to a wide variety of clients.

cleaning help near Mundelein ..

In The News:

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

Stock Market Investing: Knowing When (and when not) to Sell

Stocks & Mutual Fund