Is this a good stock to buy now?

[platorepublic]

I've got some information that this is a good stock to buy now. Apparently it's hot. Let's say this source is slightly reliable.

8279.HK AGTech Holdings

This company is into online gambling. And seems to be on the rise. I am a noob in investing stocks (or investing in general), but am not worried about losing so much.

What advice do you have for me?



Take care.

[bjl584]

My advice is to go do some research on this company. Who told you that this is a good stock to buy? How reliable of a source are they?

Being that it appears that you have no idea what you are doing, you probably shouldn't buy it.

[BuckyBadger]

It's never a good time to buy individual stock. That's speculation. Every and any stock can and could fail.

I'd invest your money into an index fund that tracks the market. With one stock there is a significant non-zero chance that you will lose all of your money. With index funds that is not a risk unless the zombie apocalypse come a calling.

[platorepublic]

My advice is to go do some research on this company. Who told you that this is a good stock to buy? How reliable of a source are they?

Being that it appears that you have no idea what you are doing, you probably shouldn't buy it.

Friend of a friend who works in an investment company. How reliable - quite reliable in the sense they won't lie and has much more knowledge about that stock than me.

Not zero idea. I've got that source that says it is a good time to buy now. This isn't exactly gambling, I've got this insider information, and my intuition tells me that if I buy now and sell after >5% increase I would make a quick profit.

[bjl584]

Friend of a friend who works in an investment company. How reliable - quite reliable in the sense they won't lie and has much more knowledge about that stock than me.

Not zero idea. I've got that source that says it is a good time to buy now. This isn't exactly gambling, I've got this insider information, and my intuition tells me that if I buy now and sell after >5% increase I would make a quick profit.

If you are speculating with less than 1% of your overall portfolio, then go for it and good luck. Any more than that, and I'd say don't do it. What you are doing isn't investing. It is gambling. A friend of a friend isn't what most would call due diligence and research. But, as long as you aren't fronting a large chunk of money, then you can do as you wish without any long term damage.

[JoeP]

Friend of a friend who works in an investment company. How reliable - quite reliable in the sense they won't lie and has much more knowledge about that stock than me.

Not zero idea. I've got that source that says it is a good time to buy now. This isn't exactly gambling, I've got this insider information, and my intuition tells me that if I buy now and sell after >5% increase I would make a quick profit.

If you're comfortable taking financial advice from a friend of a friend (a stranger) who does not have your financial interests in mind, then you should be slightly more comfortable taking financial advice from the strangers here, who actually do have a track record of offering guidance to people looking for said advice!

Insider trading is illegal. If you are caught, you could face charges. Besides that, what if this friend of a friend is trying to sucker a bunch of people into buying so that he can sell?

My advice: Do not do it. Don't trust your "intuition" on this. Buy mutual funds that invest in big solid companies (Oracle, GE, IBM, Intel, etc) and think long term. You will sleep better and will likely do better in the long run.

[Petunia 100]

If you have insider information and reliable intuition, then why ask strangers on a message board who have neither?

Best of luck to you.

[platorepublic]

If you're comfortable taking financial advice from a friend of a friend (a stranger) who does not have your financial interests in mind, then you should be slightly more comfortable taking financial advice from the strangers here, who actually do have a track record of offering guidance to people looking for said advice!

Insider trading is illegal[/URL]. If you are caught, you could face charges. Besides that, what if this friend of a friend is trying to sucker a bunch of people into buying so that he can sell?

My advice: Do not do it. Don't trust your "intuition" on this. Buy mutual funds that invest in big solid companies (Oracle, GE, IBM, Intel, etc) and think long term. You will sleep better and will likely do better in the long run.

I don't think it is that insider to consider it illegal. Jeez. They do not work for the company who owns the stock.

When I meant insider information, I simply mean within the investment circle. I am speaking as a layman.

[platorepublic]

If you have insider information and reliable intuition, then why ask strangers on a message board who have neither?

Best of luck to you.

Just to see if they have any constructive information to give me. Which hopefully includes a touch of science and statistics.

But there doesn't seem to be any so, I guess I will decide on my own :P

Thanks

[BuckyBadger]

So you think that you have information that no one else has?

Either you don't, in which case that information is already priced into the stock and it doesn't matter what you do.

Or you do, in which case it's illegal to act on it.

[platorepublic]

So you think that you have information that no one else has?

Either you don't, in which case that information is already priced into the stock and it doesn't matter what you do.

Or you do, in which case it's illegal to act on it.

Why are you sidetracking? I am just simply stating that I have some knowledge regardless whether other people have it or not.

Let's just make this simple. I am not doing anything illegal. So if it means I do not have information that others don't have then it means that.



Information doesn't mean knowledge. Some people have a knack of taking information and using their knowledge to make it useful. I am simply saying that I trust such people. You know what... forget I said anything.

[Petunia 100]

Just to see if they have any constructive information to give me. Which hopefully includes a touch of science and statistics.

But there doesn't seem to be any so, I guess I will decide on my own :P

Thanks

Most of the people posting here are indexers. Indexing is a strategy based on Modern Portfolio Theory and scads of reputable studies.

Modern Portfolio Theory says that markets are efficient. Everything anyone can know about a particular security is already priced into the security. While market inefficiencies exist, they are few and far between, and very difficult to indentify except in hindsight (which does you no good).

Study after study has shown that investors who try to time the market, beat the market, identify inefficiencies, etc., in general underperform the market by a wide margin.

My advice is: build a portfolio out of index funds/etfs. If you want to try your hand at choosing individual securities, do so with a small percentage of your portfolio. If you succeed at beating the market, great! If you don't, your loss won't be catastrophic.

[PauletteGoddard]

If you're looking for science and statistics for your stock why don't you ask your FOAF or look at Morningstar, Yahoo! Finance, Standard & Poor's? And learning to evaluate a company's fundamentals wouldn't hurt either.

[disneysteve]

It's never a good time to buy individual stock. That's speculation.

I would have to disagree with this. I suspect Warren Buffet would disagree as well.

I own several individual stocks, some of which I've owned for over 20 years. I don't consider that speculation at all. To be honest, though, I have also done some speculating with individual stocks here and there and I count that as totally different than the actual investing with individual stocks.

There is nothing wrong with buying individual stocks. You just need to do your homework, not buy on a tip from a friend of a friend. Research the company. Review their financial statements. Google them and see what info is out there. Online gaming is a hot area right now as they are starting to get some wins in the legal arena and we may see legalized online gaming become a reality in the not too distant future. You want to find out exactly what this company does, who their clients are, etc.

[BuckyBadger]

For every Warren Buffet there are 10,000 people who THINK they are Warren Buffet and lose their shirts. Or even worse - they buy 5 stocks, lose on 4, win on one, and then think that they were successful.

I suspect that the OP is no Warren Buffet.

Buying a few individual stocks is no problem as long as they represent a small portion of your portfolio. Like precious metals small. Like 5% small. (Although I firmly believe in a three fund portfolio and a well-reasoned asset allocation and no commodities, metals, or chunks of individual stocks.)

The average index investor will nearly always beat the average stock picker. And as an indexer, you WILL own that individual stock - in the proportion it represents in the market as a whole.

So in general terms, ESPECIALLY when acting on a "tip" from a "buddy," I think it is safer to say that individual stocks shouldn't be purchased. And as a "noob investor" who doesn't have anything invested, buying an individual stock on a hunch is hardly the way to start.

YMMV, of course. These are my investing opinions.