Like our buy process, our sell process is
designed to eliminate the emotion often associated with the
decision of whether or not to sell a particular stock. It seeks
to realize profits after they have been earned, or, conversely,
to conserve capital when circumstances dictate.
We have strong rules in place which govern when we sell securities. In many ways,
these rules emulate the ones that dictate why we bought the stock in the first
place. We ask ourselves a few questions:
Has the stock met our expectations? (fig. 01)
This is our Target Price discipline. When a security reaches the predetermined
price at which the additional risk of keeping it exceeds the prospect of greater
price appreciation, we sell.
Has the stock fallen short of our expectations? (fig. 02 and 03)
This is our Relative Stop/Loss Discipline. We require the sale of any stock that,
from the firm’s average price, under-performs the S&P benchmark by a specified margin
(15% in Large Cap; 20% in Mid Cap).
Have the fundamentals changed?
If the factors that guided our decision to buy the stock have changed, we sell it.
These factors may pertain to the economy, the industry, or the company itself.
Do we need to pare back?
As a risk-reducing measure, we realize profits by selling a partial position of any security
that grows, through capital appreciation, to as much as 5% of the portfolio. Likewise, we
limit exposure to any one industry or sector. |