Lawrence J. Kramer

16 Stocks That Are Paying My College Tuition

Thanks for sharing tips. But if I read your spreadsheet correctly, all but one of your closed transactions were losses, so that your net results are nearly flat. I get that it's smart to sell losers and hold winners, but not if you are then going to tack a percentage "return" on the winners without adjusting for the losers.

Also, if you think a stock is undervalued, you need to accept that it may become more undervalued before it becomes less so. In other words, if your view is essentially contrarian, you cannot afford such tight stops, I am familiar with only one of your calls - DWSN - and all I can say is that I bought more when it dropped to near 50 and now hold above 60, whereas you sold at a loss. If you believe in your picks, you need to ride them more faithfully. Indeed, if you think they are home runs on the upside, you need to be willing to take some serious hits on the downside. Otherwise, you will stop yourself out of your best picks.

Bottom-fishing is overrated. The time to buy a stock is when you are sure it's underpriced, not when your sure it's hit bottom. Then you hold it until the market catches up with your appraisal, i.e., until owning it further will not in your opinion produce another home run from where it sits.