Good question...it's a good idea to think about for newer investors.
It's actually a combination of both. A company's history is a VERY big part of its attractiveness as an investment. Think of a dividend stock, would you pick the one with 5% dividends with regular increases through it's history, or the one that just said it would give its first dividend?
Potential growth is another good thing for you to be thinking about...but WHEN does the growth happen is also something you should consider. If a company is going to grow 10-fold in 2 years then GREAT go for it. But if a company has the CHANCE of growing 10-fold in 10 years, is that a good investment? Probably not, you can find better ways to use your money.
Now, this stuff is even more important down here in the stinky pinkies. Every company has pie in the sky PRs. Only a very small fraction of them will actually realize them. Looking for things like Revenue, and cash flow, and actual reported numbers is a method of eliminating the true stinky pinkies...the ones that say one thing in PR and another to the SEC. The ones that have never had an ounce of revenue and have pumped out more excuses than anybody can count.
It's very shady business...but yes, companies need to prove themselves down here in stinky pinky. That means looking at their history and seeing what they have accomplished. Nothing? Or something tangible?
Like I have said multiple times in the past, whatever initial gains we get on some wild PR about gold numbers won't even compare to the gains we will see when the company PROVES ITSELF and establishes REVENUE and GOOD HISTORY quarter after quarter.
Hope that helps you a bit.
--------------------------------------The I-Hubber Playbook--------------------------------------
