This weeks’ slide in the value of STX was a disappointment, but...

This weeks’ slide in the value of STX was a disappointment, but not a disaster or an embarrassment for me. Possibly it has been for some share-holders. Here are some lessons I have learned:

No matter how strong the buy sentiment, don’t advise relatives and friends to buy. They will forget the cautions (DYOR etc) and only remember you advised them to buy. I have a friend who feels responsible for a divorce – a few years ago the husband listened to my friend and became convinced of the great potential of STX and put $400k of joint savings into STX when it was in the mid 20s. The share price then began a long term slide.

Don’t keep the wife or others updated with every positive sign or announcement. There have been so many disappointments from STX over the years – good news can be greeted with indifference from the market, or even a slide in the share price. It does seem that optimistic announcements from the oil and gas sector are seen as having no substance unless they are backed with strong evidence

It’s only when shares have been sold at a profit that there is a realised gain – any celebration before then may be premature.

I mainly follow HC for the great information sometimes provided by the knowledgeable contributors. It has been disappointing recently to see posts by great contributors misinterpreted or misunderstood by some of the new posters, leading to wasted time by the original contributors in composing replies, and for the rest of us in having to read through useless posts. It may be smarter to just check the threads once a week, skipping over the posts that don’t have many likes.

As a long term holder (> 1m shares), I’m not considering selling even part of my holding under $1. It could take several more years for STX to reach it’s potential. Remember that management have an objective of becoming a mid-cap, which translates to a share price of around $1.50 or more. The recent success reinforces the likelihood of this objective being reached.