“…hey, one last thing. I’ve got an appointment on Melrose and Intel is announcing after the close,” she said. “Do me a favor and text me if there is any big news…please?”
“Okay, if I think about it. I thought you puked that up when it started selling off?”
“Nooooo. It’s Intel. I’m holding that sucker. It’s in the DOW.”
“What’s your basis?”
“23 something,” she said with her voice trailing off.
“Ah, so you bought it on a pullback, right after it put the highs in?”
“Yes.”
[I’m thinking to myself, that was a good short entry, but not to buy it long for crice sake.]
About 20 minutes pass, and I decide to check INTC in the aftermarket for my friend.
sms: “Street likes the numbers. I’m stepping out. LT was 22.69 – liquidate while you can.”
[As it turns out, the market never held. A weak Retail Sales number one day and an Unemployment number took the starch out of what everyone was hoping was going to be an INTC-led rally.]
I’ve had this conversation 10,000 times with Retail folks who try their hand at stock picking. The person in this particular conversation does over $800k in gross commissions regularly.
True story. I swear.