InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[The Count]

JK Regarding institutions

There is a tendency for them to hold/buy winners near the end of a quarter and sell their losers. The term is window dressing. They want to show a portfolio of strong stocks to show investors.

As far as institutions holding their winners and selling their losers - it doesn't make sense to me. It seems that a professional investor would do ongoing due diligence and re-evaluate their value of a company and compare it to the current market price without regard to whether they are currently in a gain or loss position. That takes the emotion out of trading which is one big advantage the institutions should have. Also, a strategy of dumping losers and holding on to winners is great in a rising market, a market with a split personality that has some sectors performing well for extended periods while others do poorly, or if the market is having large sustained moves up and down. However in a down or churning market, with few exceptions most of the stocks in a portfolio will be in a loss position at times. If one chooses to sell the losers and hold the winners in that type of market they will end up realizing losses on most of the investments and will need the few winners that managed to stay above their stop loss amount to perform exceptionally well.

I do not have experience with institutional investors, so this is conjecture based on common sense. However, common sense often has little to do with the trading on the stock market, so I could be completely wrong.