Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[bobs10]

In 2003 AMD looked back at 2002 as a 'watershed year'. That year the dam kinda broke and flushed their stock price from about $20 to a little over $3. Scary.


Me...

Yes, it was a great opportunity to make money. During that period I kept selling and buying back at lower prices until the stock got to about $6 and I got cold feet. Eventually I ended up rebuying at about $6. but I really missed the bottom. That was exactly what I didn't want to do since when tech stocks had hit bottoms during the 90's they usually rebounded 30% or so within a couple of months. Anyway, in the end I about doubled the amount of AMD shares I had before the drop so I didn't come out too badly.

With a stock like AMD that has a very high beta you have to be able to sell when the handwriting is on the wall. During that period I was able to see the progress AMD was making so I never gave up on the stock, just reacted to market realities. Still, during that period AMD was a very high fear-factor stock often not far from bankruptcy. One of the posters during that period had a moniker of 2 steel balls. You really needed them to play in that market.

In contrast today I sense tension on the boards, not because AMD isn’t doing well, but because it isn’t doing well fast enough for some. I expect we’ll see more johny come latelys hoping on for a quick ride as AMD completes the last trick in its’ turnaround, but the real rewards will go to those of us that saw a potential and had the balls to invest when the rest of the world had written off AMD.