Topic: How To Invest

Pat: If I buy a speculative stock and it goes up 200% or more, do I sell half or just the amount equalling the original investment? I’m thinking of shares of Mart Resources, a pick of Stock Pickers Digest that I own. It was recently up 250% from a year ago. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Mart Resources, $1.35, symbol MMT on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 355.9 million; Market cap: $480.5 million; www.martresources.com), is focused on developing, producing and drilling for oil at its properties in Africa. The company is currently producing oil at its 50%-held Umusadege field in Nigeria. Mart’s shares moved up over the last year on rising production and cash flow. Most recently, the shares jumped when the company paid a special dividend of $0.10 a share on August 8, 2012. It also announced that it will begin paying quarterly dividends of $0.05 a share starting this month. Mart’s exposure to Nigeria entails considerable political risk. The stock is still a buy, but only for highly aggressive investors. Our sell-half rule says that if a stock you own has doubled, you should sell half so you get back your initial stake. Once you’ve recovered your initial investment, you’ll be able to think more clearly about the stock. However, the sell-half rule applies mainly to stocks we rate as…