ATM - A2 Milk Corporation Limited

[Leftfield]

Thanks LF for those thoughts and lets hope you and sb9 are totally on the money!
And yes, thank goodness for being in profit with ATM as it is taking the sting out of NTL losses at the moment. I definitely got caught up in the hype! - makes me feel like a fool and their money are easily parted, but I'm prepared to hang in there for now and hope for the best.

Tricky decision to 'hang on' and hope. One of my proven tested rules is to "Take your losses quickly; make your gains long." Retaining a loss just ties up your money while other up trending stocks romp away. I too got caught in the hype of NTL, (a bit off topic on this tread) but, sure they have the gold, however given the political uncertainty, the difficulty of mining 'under water', and misleading statements by management I felt it best to get out quick.

[Snow Leopard]

I just wish I had bought more when they were sub 60c less than three years ago .

Last buy was $2.39 in late Feb -even that is a 2.5 bagger - this is so awesome .

Best Wishes
Paper Tiger

[Beagle]

Amazingly this stock was just $2 at Christmas. ATM...the gift that keeps on giving ! Wish I had more but my mother taught me a long time ago to be grateful for small mercies.

[RupertBear]

Yep wish I had more of these as well and less of SUM others. What a rocket ship!

[couta1]

Yep wish I had more of these as well and less of SUM others. What a rocket ship!

I've held large holdings of this stock on and off until about a month ago and always felt nervous holding it in comparison to other large holdings. Have left mountain loads on the table over that time, however I see it as a high risk stock with multiple risks not common to other companies I have had, and continue to have large holdings in. I'm happy just to let it go now, don't know if I'll buy it again or not, I don't sweat the small stuff so much these days and quickly let regrets and wishes go, and move on.

[moka]

I sold all my ATM a year ago and just bought back in a few weeks ago. I have watched them rise and told myself I should buy but never did. With hindsight I identified that the reason I didn’t buy earlier was the belief that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. But I am a believer now. I remember watching XRO go up to over $40 and watching in disbelief.

You do not trade the markets. You can only trade your beliefs about the markets.—Van K. Tharp
http://www.vantharp.com/tharp-concepts/psychology.asp

[Snow Leopard]

...You do not trade the markets. You can only trade your beliefs about the markets.—Van K. Tharp...

Probably the most influential statement of my financial life. It really hit me when I first read that, many, many years ago.

Best Wishes
Paper Tiger

[couta1]

I sold all my ATM a year ago and just bought back in a few weeks ago. I have watched them rise and told myself I should buy but never did. With hindsight I identified that the reason I didn’t buy earlier was the belief that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. But I am a believer now. I remember watching XRO go up to over $40 and watching in disbelief.

You do not trade the markets. You can only trade your beliefs about the markets.—Van K. Tharp
http://www.vantharp.com/tharp-concepts/psychology.asp

There are many that watched XRO go to $45 dollars in disbelief and now they don't believe it will ever get back to that price again, who knows if it will or not? ATM is a great company but one that makes me the most nervous holding in what I consider a meaningful holding ,so that's a red flag for me.

[moka]

I amazes me the investors (including myself sometimes) realising their profits (profit-taking) on their best performing stock and keep their dogs (badly performing stock) in the hope that some day they may get their money back. That is the exact opposite to the Principle..(Very inefficient portfolio = high outside assigned risk perimeter with minimising capital gain)

Conclusion:..you should not have sold...

I’m just reading Colin Nicholson’s book The Aggressive Investor. He says we are afraid to let a profit run, because of fear that it will evaporate. In investing, the saying that “you cannot go broke taking a profit” is WRONG. Our whole endeavour is to balance out all the small losses and the small gains, eliminate the large losses and let the large profits accumulate. If we take all our profits when they are small, the BEST result we can expect will be mediocre. It comes back to the psychology of investing – fear, greed, avoiding regret and ego.

Successful investors have a simple strategy: they try to buy into a trend once it has clearly started and sell out of it once it has clearly failed. As he says it is easy to say but devilishly difficult for most adults to do.

Hoop let me know when you think the trend is failing.

[Leftfield]

I’m just reading Colin Nicholson’s book The Aggressive Investor. He says we are afraid to let a profit run, because of fear that it will evaporate. In investing, the saying that “you cannot go broke taking a profit” is WRONG. Our whole endeavour is to balance out all the small losses and the small gains, eliminate the large losses and let the large profits accumulate. If we take all our profits when they are small, the BEST result we can expect will be mediocre. It comes back to the psychology of investing – fear, greed, avoiding regret and ego.

Successful investors have a simple strategy: they try to buy into a trend once it has clearly started and sell out of it once it has clearly failed. As he says it is easy to say but devilishly difficult for most adults to do.

Hoop let me know when you think the trend is failing.

Useful advice for us all - thanks for sharing Moka.