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It’s no secret that 2022 has been a tough year for stocks. Inflation is still raging throughout the country… The Fed is raising interest rates… But every cloud has a silver lining. And even though some investors may be wary, keep in mind that challenging market environments create amazing opportunities - if you know where to look. Even though stock performance saw an improvement over the summer, it’s not surprising that investors are a bit cautious and looking for bargains in the market. Low-priced stocks are the things that investment dreams are made of. We have all fantasized about buying a stock in the single digits and watching it soar higher. Too often, however, investors never realize that dream. For any number of reasons, investors often buy a low-priced stock only to sell it at an even lower price. This common practice is really quite curable. The mistakes investors make when dealing with low-priced stocks have simple answers. Most of the time, you already know what the answers are; it’s the execution that’s hard. My goal is to share some of these common problems and give you solutions so that you can become a better investor. Beware Buying the Bottom Everyone wants to get something for nothing, but if you can't do that, then paying as little as possible is the next best alternative. Let’s face it, who wouldn't want to buy at the 52-week low and then sell at the 52-week high? The problem is that sometimes the bottom you see is not at all the bottom. Usually, stocks making new 52-week lows are not the stocks you should be buying. The market is telling you that this stock is consistently worth less and less when it appears on the list of 52-week lows. Bottom feeding is fine for some species, but investors that want to see good returns in a reasonable amount of time, should avoid stocks at their "perceived" bottom. Always look for confirmation that the bottom is in and the stock is recovering. Adjust Your Risk Profile Buying a low-priced stock sometimes seems like a riskless or a very limited-risk venture. The stock is in the single digits, so how much more can it go down? The answer to this one is always the same thing. Any and every stock can go down 100% from where it closed the day before. Though this happens rarely, the point is that you have to think about returns more in percentages than stock prices. A $7 stock going to $3.50 is a loss of 50% and that is a hard-to-swallow number. The solution to this problem is position sizing. You must know how much of your portfolio should be dedicated to low-price stocks and not put all your eggs in one basket. This is an issue that is unique to every investor, as everyone has a different amount of investable dollars, and most have a different time horizon as well. Proper position sizing will allow you to withstand short-term loss and also encourage long-term success. More . . . | ||||
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| Don't Double Down Many investors believe that the stock they pick is destined to succeed. They did their research (sparse as it may or may not be) and came up with the idea, so it probably has some merit, right? This sort of confirmation bias leads many investors to double down on a bad idea. When an investor buys a stock at $8 and then doubles down at $6, the problem only becomes a bigger one when the stock slips to $5. Now you have twice as many shares losing more money with every tick! The discipline to cut losers and let winners run is something that even the most seasoned professional has trouble with. Assess the amount you can withstand in a pullback and stick to those limits. Often, small-priced stocks have a way of really falling out of bed when there is trouble...and no one wants that. My Best Advice for Making Big Profits with Low-Priced Stocks Be patient with your investments. Low-priced stocks generally need more time than their bigger brethren. A healthy dose of patience will go a long way for a low-price stock portfolio. Leverage the Zacks Rank to help find stocks that analysts see earning more money. The Zacks Rank looks at earnings estimate revisions of the models from all the covering analysts and compares it to all stocks in the Zacks universe of coverage. When an analyst at Needham or William Blair moves numbers higher, the Zacks Rank helps you know when estimate increases are the most meaningful. Assessing risk is a difficult task and something only you can do. One way to limit risk is to spread the exposure to several low-priced stocks. Instead of going "all in" and buying 10,000 shares of a single-digit stock, spread that out among several names. A larger portfolio will spread the risk out across several names, giving you a better chance to succeed. Position Yourself for Profits Now One of the easiest ways for you to avoid costly mistakes and position yourself for substantial profits with single-digit stocks is to see the recommendations we're holding in our Zacks Stocks Under $10 portfolio. We focus on companies that are primed to make big upward moves. We get in when the Zacks Rank and other proven indicators point to success ahead, and ride them toward serious growth. For example, we’ve recently closed out positions with gains of +110.4%, +393.8%, and a remarkable +995.2%.¹ Now is a great time to look into our Stocks Under $10. Tuesday morning, I’m adding a new pick to the portfolio and you can be among the select few to see it first. It could easily take off from the "Under $10" category very quickly. Get started today and you are also welcome to download our just-released Special Report, 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. From our proven list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys, our team of experts handpicked these 7 for immediate breakout. But a word of caution: Your chance to download this bonus report ends at midnight Sunday, November 27. See our Stocks Under $10 and download the Special Report now » Best,
Brian Bolan is our aggressive growth expert and the editor of Zacks Stocks Under $10 portfolio. | ||||
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| ¹ The results listed above are not (or may not be) representative of the performance of all selections made by Zacks Investment Research's newsletter editors and may represent the partial close of a position. This free resource is being sent by Zacks.com. We look for investment resources and inform you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms of Service". https://www.zacks.com/terms_of_service Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. The Zacks #1 Rank Performance covers the period beginning on January 1, 1988 through September 12, 2022. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank #1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance_disclosure for information about the performance numbers displayed above. Zacks Emails Zacks Investment Research |
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