Investing in growth stocks like PNV

Hey folks,

I just read this awesome (long winded) memo from Howard Marks on growth vs value stocks and it is a cracker.

He discusses the growth vs value debate, how it can  really an esoteric discussion, but what I thought was most interesting, was the part about the importance of holding onto growth stocks for as long as possible and avoiding premature selling.

It reminds me that everyone wants to own a Disallowed, but many people can spend decades investing in stocks and never end up owning a Disallowed simply because it's too hard for them to hold that long.

To achieve a multi-bagger in the portfolio, you have to hold it! You can't hold a multi-bagger or Disallowed if you don't have the conviction to hold it. You need to know what you hold, so you don't sell them when they go through their inevitable 20, 30, 50 per cent price falls, over and over again.

There's not a multi-bagger that I've held that has not seen me have to go through repeated huge retraces in price. As much as I felt I knew the stock, I'll admit at times it was stomach churning. There have been countless times where I watched more than the equivalent of a years savings from my salary evaporate in the space of a week.

Knowing what I held, and relying on a rock solid unbroken investment thesis held steel me against panic to hold on, and even buying adding to the position.

The interesting part that Howard Marks makes is that you not only need to make sure you hang onto it if it falls, but you also need to hold it when it goes up. Just because a stock has doubled in the past year, does not mean it is now less valuable than it was a year earlier.