Value Microcaps Motherboard

[larrybaz]

MSGI:

If you look at the percentage return of any of the popular stock indexes with a start date of January 1, 2000, I don't think you're going to see any blockbuster returns. The Nasdaq topped out at 5000 in March of '00 and is now just above 2000. So picking early 2000 as a start date probably isn't real fair. Why not pick a start date in the early 80s when that huge bull market started? What would the returns be like in that case? You can't make rational assumptions using start dates at the tops or bottoms of markets.

I don't agree with you that this experiment is bound to fail.

I have been investing for quite a number of years and have owned many low-priced micro-caps. I have sold many way too soon, way too often. If you think buy and hold doesn't work, talk to Warren Buffet. He may disagree.

What happened to MED was disappointing. There's no doubt about it. What about another one of Bobwins picks.....a company with the ticker MDF. In 2003 it traded as low as 7 cents a share. Its current price is $2.59 and some people on this board think it is headed quite a bit higher. In all fairness I probably wouldn't have bought it way down there since the balance sheet hadn't firmed yet.

I really don't think 30% of the companies in this experiment will go BK in the next few years because I am concentrating on profitable companies with solid balance sheets.

Here are a few of the charts of companies I have bought very low-priced shares in and sold way too early:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=ALDA&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SMTC&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=RATE&t=5y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=FARO&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=HANS&t=my&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

These are off the top of my head. It's too painful to think of all the others.

This portfolio experiment may not turn out to be a huge success, but I'll bet at the very least it will beat most if not all the popular indexes over a ten year period.