OK, so here is my little MQG story (laying my soul bare here)...
The only time I've ever had a total wipeout on any share was in January, 2008. It was my first day back at work, and I was feeling depressed about it. To entertain myself I logged onto my broker's website at lunch time. The share price of MFS Limited had fallen sharply that day (something to do with their massive amount of debt). There was an analyst from MQG being quoted on the news feed, saying something like "MFS is
so not Centro...". She had a calculation to say that even with the amount of debt they had in their property business, their leisure and hospitality business (Stella) was worth $X hundred million at least, so it was massively undervalued. It seemed to make sense, so I bought some, and then bought some more a couple of days later, after it had fallen some more.
A few days later it was suspended from trading. They are still fighting it out in the courts eight years later.
Because of my emotional state, I ignored one of my rules (not to try to catch a falling knife) and made an impulsive decision.
As for MQG, was it a conspiracy or a stuff up? I'd probably go with stuff up, but it's a good reminder to take analysts' advice with a grain of salt. These days, I only buy stocks that are trending up, though I still sometimes make impulsive decisions! I'm still working on that...
