No time for shorting

Article Excerpt

Some investors wonder if now is a good time to sell short — that is, sell borrowed shares in hopes of a drop in price. I’ll say “no,” based on my view of today’s market trend, and on the perennial drawbacks of short selling. The time to sell short is when the market has been booming and investors are confident and have profits to invest. That’s when you find lots of stocks trading way above any reasonable estimate of value. Today, after 20 months of market decline, conditions are more like the opposite. Many stocks are highly attractive, based on any reasonable assessment of their value. Attractive short-selling opportunities do come along from time to time, but it’s a hard way to make money. I’ve never met anybody who succeeds at it with any consistency. Compared to buyers, shorts face a broad range of disadvantages. If you are sure the market will go lower, forget about selling short. Instead, buy puts (options to sell…