Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of July 22, 2014

Article Excerpt

Investor shorthand can help you think about and talk about large blocks of investment information. But it may also lead you to make associations and come to conclusions that can cost you money. For example, think about the common investor shorthand term, low-p/e stocks. It encompasses four statistics: price per share; per-share earnings; the p/e (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings); and low p/e (which suggests a normal range exists for p/e’s generally, or for p/e’s of stocks of a particular type or description, and that these stocks are near the lower half of the range). Some investors, beginners especially, see special appeal in stocks with low p/e’s. They jump to the conclusion that the p/e is low because the “p” or stock is low, and that this is a sure sign of a bargain. When you use that term to generalize, however, you can lose sight of the fact that p/e’s can be (or can seem) low…