R59- exploiting inefficiencies
I completely agree that even if there were a tiny advantage/disadvantage holding into earnings, that it would be quickly disappear with sophisticated algorithms. However I still find it interesting, when you Google "holding into earnings studies", that there are none to be found. Anyway, thanks for sharing about your strategy. I must say we are different in our approaches. I mean I would love to hold a stock for more than just short term, as long term capital gains are substantially less. However in buying stocks since 2004(since on this board), I rarely have found a stock that doesn't disappoint at some point over four straight quarterly earnings reports, resulting in me selling the stock, as it's no longer under valued.
I mean, my strategy is to find undervalued stocks, and then sell them when they get to fair value. A simple strategy, but the question of fair value is surely debatable. I mean my method attempts to make investing into as much of a science as possible, despite there being no exact science. Thing is, my method worked like a charm from 2004 to 2017 or so, as I had many multi bagger wins, and I was averaging huge yearly gains during that period. Of course I would have made out better if I had held certain stocks for years, but everything is 20/20 in hindsight, and my method of selling a stock when it gets to fair value, has kept me short term 90% of the time anyway. So I guess I'm a short term trader, and not an investor, but it's worked well for me for many years. I did have a few long term holds through the years though ie AGM, UVE, and lately GERN. AGM & UVE were in fact my most successful plays in both dollar gains and % gains, while GERN has been real dud so far ! So I guess I am open to hold a stock long term, just about finding one that can keep growing, and not disappoint too bad along the way.