REGN ~ Opinions?

[Mary]

My sister called me this morning and wants to know what I think about my Regeneron Pharmaceuticals stock. When she looked at the price this morning just before calling me, my gain was 47.4%. She said the company has been doing OK lately but still struggling. She talked to a couple of the financial advisors, who said they "might be tempted to sell." That response sounds wishy washy to me. Might be tempted? What do you people think about REGN?

[Mary]

Change made

I don't have any opinions from anyone here yet but I did receive a telephone call from my financial advisor. After taking a look at my portfolio, he recommended that I sell my Intel, Regeneron and Time Warner stock and use that money plus about half of the available cash in my account to put into mutual funds. He's putting some of the money into funds I already have in my portfolio. He's also adding a fund (with only 10% of my portfolio) called Hartford Capital Appreciation. He said the manager of this fund has averaged 17% growth a year even during the recent bad years in the market. He thinks the fund is "phenomenal" but that if it doesn't stay phenomenal, we can dump it. I took his advice and we'll see what happens. I'm keeping my eBay stock because I want to and because he said that's a good stock to keep. The reason for his recommendation that I get out of individual stock is because of the very limited knowledge I have of the market and the limited amount of time I have to study the market. Even he and his associates, as "experts," only spend a couple of hours a day looking at individual stocks. He said managers of mutual funds look at individual stocks and bonds for a living. Oh, and mentioning bonds reminds me that he's going to add a bond fund to my portfolio "for stability."

[peanuts]

yikes!

...She talked to a couple of the financial advisors, who said they "might be tempted to sell." That response sounds wishy washy to me. Might be tempted? What do you people think about REGN?

Mary, Q: Why else would someone so educated as a financial advisor sell a stock? A: It has become overvalued in stock price compared to the company's real value. Right? Q: Why would anyone not sell now, but be tempted to sometime in the future? A: They anticipate the market value per share to soon equal the real value per share or higher- making the shares they own worth more than the actual value. What this really means is that the advisor was basically saying, "I'm not selling now because the shares are still cheap. I'll be tempted to sell later because I think the price will go up and meet the price that I think the company is fairly valued" Get it? Not wishy washy, smart!

REGN's chart looks great with a breakout to new 52 week highs on a gap up with strong volume and price movement... You shouldn't have sold until technical reasons suggested a topping point. Also, if someone calls you, they are selling something.

With every sentence that I read in your second post, I cringed a little more. Sorry...

[Mary]

Reply to Peanuts

Mary, Q: Why else would someone so educated as a financial advisor sell a stock? A: It has become overvalued in stock price compared to the company's real value. Right? Q: Why would anyone not sell now, but be tempted to sometime in the future? A: They anticipate the market value per share to soon equal the real value per share or higher- making the shares they own worth more than the actual value. What this really means is that the advisor was basically saying, "I'm not selling now because the shares are still cheap. I'll be tempted to sell later because I think the price will go up and meet the price that I think the company is fairly valued" Get it? Not wishy washy, smart!

Except that the message I got was not that he would be tempted to sell sometime in the future but that he would be tempted to sell now were he in my position. At least that's how I understood the message.

REGN's chart looks great with a breakout to new 52 week highs on a gap up with strong volume and price movement... You shouldn't have sold until technical reasons suggested a topping point. Also, if someone calls you, they are selling something.

In just about every other circumstance I would agree with you. The reason I don't agree with you here is because my sister was the first to call me. I don't think she knows much more than I do about how to research stock prices and company strengths/weaknesses. The other thing is that the financial advisor who called me from my sister's office (because I said I'd like to talk to him) put me into funds where I don't have to pay a commission because I am the sister of an employee. In other words, he's not making any money off the trades he did for me today ... well, unless he's making a commission on the stock sales that were done. He isn't making a commission on the mutual fund stuff.

With every sentence that I read in your second post, I cringed a little more. Sorry...

You've nothing to be sorry for. You're being honest.

Side note: I tried to insert my replies after each part of your message I was replying to in blue font, but the HTML code I was using didn't work ... so I made my comments bold. I know as little about HTML as I do about stocks.

[New-born baby]

I don't have any opinions from anyone here yet but I did receive a telephone call from my financial advisor. After taking a look at my portfolio, he recommended that I sell my Intel, Regeneron and Time Warner stock and use that money plus about half of the available cash in my account to put into mutual funds. He's putting some of the money into funds I already have in my portfolio. He's also adding a fund (with only 10% of my portfolio) called Hartford Capital Appreciation. He said the manager of this fund has averaged 17% growth a year even during the recent bad years in the market. He thinks the fund is "phenomenal" but that if it doesn't stay phenomenal, we can dump it. I took his advice and we'll see what happens. I'm keeping my eBay stock because I want to and because he said that's a good stock to keep. The reason for his recommendation that I get out of individual stock is because of the very limited knowledge I have of the market and the limited amount of time I have to study the market. Even he and his associates, as "experts," only spend a couple of hours a day looking at individual stocks. He said managers of mutual funds look at individual stocks and bonds for a living. Oh, and mentioning bonds reminds me that he's going to add a bond fund to my portfolio "for stability."

Fire this dude ASAP.

First, if you have a question about a stock, go to HOT PICK OF THE DAY and I will throw up a chart for you. Then Runner, Spike, and all the excellent traders on this forum will critique it for you.

Now, REGN:
Here's the chart. The weekly says REGN is headed to at least $29, more likely to $31+. And he had you sell at $18 . . . .

By the way, do you know he had you trade into a mutual fund just at the time that you'll be responsible for all the taxes due for that fund for 2006? And yet you'll not reap all the rewards for the year. UGH.

[Mary]

Frustration Sets In

Fire this dude ASAP.

First, if you have a question about a stock, go to HOT PICK OF THE DAY and I will throw up a chart for you. Then Runner, Spike, and all the excellent traders on this forum will critique it for you.

Now, REGN:
Here's the chart. The weekly says REGN is headed to at least $29, more likely to $31+. And he had you sell at $18 . . . .

By the way, do you know he had you trade into a mutual fund just at the time that you'll be responsible for all the taxes due for that fund for 2006? And yet you'll not reap all the rewards for the year. UGH.

OK ... frustration is beginning to set in already. First, I don't know how to read the charts that get posted around here. Second, my FA (financial advisor) admitted that he doesn't spend much time watching individual stocks, nor does he think many of his associates watch individual stocks.

As for what you said about REGN's weekly, that's not a sure thing, right? That's a projection that may or may not come true. Yes? I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm asking because I don't know.

Last, I don't know what you mean about being responsible for the taxes when my entire portfolio is contained in an IRA. I don't pay taxes on any of it unless I take the money out, right?

[Runner]

Mary, nothing is a for sure thing in the markets. If your happy with your financial advisers performance then stick with him. just remember you and you alone are responsible for what happens. If you wish to learn trading you will need to find a methodology to trade. You will not get a true feel of it until you go through some good times and bad. I've said this several times here on this forum. Many will keep changing methods and never be in sync with the markets their trading. If you are trading use very few shares so if you mess up (and you will) then you wont worry about it. I personally think paper trading is a waist of time because the true emotions are missing.

I would not follow anyone's lead here on this forum especially my crazy approach. Determine what you wish to achieve and what type of trader or investor you wish to become.... Many awesome traders and investors have posted a lot of info here on this site. You might want to try the search feature and read some info. take in what you might use and discard the rest.

[IIC]

If anyone calls me and says that they are a Financial Advisor...The first thing I do is laugh uncontrollably...Then I hang up.

You need to learn to govern your own destiny...NO COMMISSION...That is Hogwash...Live 'n Learn...Best, Doug(IIC)

[New-born baby]

OK ... frustration is beginning to set in already. First, I don't know how to read the charts that get posted around here. Second, my FA (financial advisor) admitted that he doesn't spend much time watching individual stocks, nor does he think many of his associates watch individual stocks.

As for what you said about REGN's weekly, that's not a sure thing, right? That's a projection that may or may not come true. Yes? I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm asking because I don't know.

Last, I don't know what you mean about being responsible for the taxes when my entire portfolio is contained in an IRA. I don't pay taxes on any of it unless I take the money out, right?

REGN: nothing sure in the market. Charts are 70-85% accurate.

IRAs are tax-exempt until you take the money out.

[IIC]

REGN: nothing sure in the market. Charts are 70-85% accurate.

IRAs are tax-exempt until you take the money out.

Not ROTH IRA's

[Mary]

IRA vs. Roth IRA

I have both types of IRA. The largest portion of my money is in a tax exempt IRA. I have a much smaller amount in a Roth IRA but that one is growing now because at the time when I was given a raise last spring, I decided I should start saving more for my future, so I set up an automatic deposit ... a set amount of money that goes into my Roth IRA account from each pay period. There are mutual funds contained within both IRA accounts.

I used to do my own taxes but started having them done for me when I bought a house. Way back then (about 8 years ago), I had also taken some money out of my IRA, not realizing just how steep the early withdrawal penalties were. My accountant helped me save a HUGE amount of money because when I met with him, there was still time for me to find another source for the money I needed then and deposit the money back into my IRA and not be charged the early withdrawal penalty.

Since that time, I have given my tax professional the information about my IRA and Roth IRA but don't know if I've paid any taxes on it, perhaps because of the relatively small amount of money that's in the Roth. I expect this year things will be different since I've been making regular deposits into that account every pay period.

[Mary]

Hogwash?

If anyone calls me and says that they are a Financial Advisor...The first thing I do is laugh uncontrollably...Then I hang up.

You need to learn to govern your own destiny...NO COMMISSION...That is Hogwash...Live 'n Learn...Best, Doug(IIC)

I completely understand what you're saying, Doug, about "no commission" being hogwash. However, in this instance, it's not that there is no commission. It's that the commissions on the mutual funds he's putting me into are waived because my sister is an employee.

[Mary]

Financial Advisor's Performance

... If your happy with your financial advisers performance then stick with him. ...

The jury is still out on the performance of my current financial advisor. I wrote a post in another thread awhile back where I said I felt like I was being ignored because of the comparatively small amount of money in my account. The man who was my FA back then has since retired and my portfolio is now being handled by someone else. Yesterday's telephone call with the new guy was my first contact with him. He made a few changes (I wrote about some of them in my second post in this thread). Now I get to watch and see what happens and decide if I'm happy with him or not.

[Runner]

The jury is still out on the performance of my current financial advisor. I wrote a post in another thread awhile back where I said I felt like I was being ignored because of the comparatively small amount of money in my account. The man who was my FA back then has since retired and my portfolio is now being handled by someone else. Yesterday's telephone call with the new guy was my first contact with him. He made a few changes (I wrote about some of them in my second post in this thread). Now I get to watch and see what happens and decide if I'm happy with him or not.

You may want to find out this new guys track record.

[Mary]

Track Record

You may want to find out this new guys track record.

How do I do that?