................................

[C.Ann]

 

[Jodi1980]

I purchased Disney stock through the company for the minimum of $1000 during the month of January 2002 - it cost $21.47 per share. When I saw it going down this past month, I mailed in another $200 and got 11.35 shares at $17.15 a share. If I could purchase more, I would!!

If you could come up with $1000, go to the Disney website and buy some!

 

[All Aboard]

Jodi, I'm very interested to hear what makes you think DIS is going to be a big winner. It's at $15.31 now, down nearly 30% from when you made your first purchase just 6 months ago. Is it the "heck, it must go up theory?" S&P is considering a downgrade. I am really interested what is driving your DIS purchase decisions right now.

And I'm being serious about the next statement. Are you a professional stock analyst? Because if not, I think your last sentence is a bit irresponsible. Sorry to sound harsh, but you never know who will read it and how they will react.

 

[manning]

What's that old saying? Buy on the bad news, sell on the good news!

If you think Disney has potential, dollar cost averaging makes sense.

 

[Jodi1980]

I have 20 years to retire - I'm counting it will go up again!

 

[PamOKW]

I don't think people should let their Disney enthusiasm cause them to invest money in Disney that they will need in the short-term. It needs to be looked at from a business standpoint. Disney is more than just the theme parks. Look at the other parts of the business and how they will do in a slow and/or wartime economy. Disney, like other stocks, may be bargains. But it's hard to time the market. It would be better to put money in mutual funds (maybe one that has Disney in it) to spread the risk or to make consistent purchases over a period of time of Disney stock. Disney has been inexpensive for quite awhile now.....and it keeps getting more inexpensive. I'm hoping that things will turn around again soon. Consider this, the stock was at an 8 year low at one point Friday. Money that has been in Disney stock for 8 years has earned nothing but the dividends.

 

[Tony P. IL.]

entertainment does well. I am not a broker but have watched and listened to investment programs where the said people look to entertainment to relieve some of the everyday stress during bad times (military action). During one of the programs they said Movies (shows) do well. I myself think this makes sense.

 

[toefungus]

NO matter what, the stock market will ALWAYS go up. Right now we're just in a little downfall, but eventually it will haev to go up. These people drive me crazy when they sell their stocks when it goes down and they lost a lot of $. BUY NOW! I just did, IT WILL go back up.

 

[manning]

I wouldn't look at it as short term. any equity investment should be looked at as a minimal 3-5 year term. In other words buying and holding for 3-5 years minimum. There's no way to time the market. Some will argue differently, But they have been only lucky, extremely lucky. Studies have shown if you hold for a long time (don't hold me to it but I think in excess of 10 years) if you had to sell in a down market, you still make money.

Several things to remember:

1) Don't invest money that you will need to live on.

2) Invest long term

3) Don't act emotionally (tends to keep you from buying low and selling high) and on hot tips

4) If you don't have a large amount of money to invest, think mutual funds.

5) Diversify, don't put all you eggs in one basket.

Jodi1980, don't worry about the stock going up and down. You have 20 years to invest. Believe me, dollar cost averaging is your best friend.

That's my opinion for what it's worth.

 

[Jodi1980]

I also contribute each month to my first Roth IRA this year. It is invested in mutual funds. Plus I just purchased last month GE stock since you only needed to start with $250. I put it in my daughter's name so she can start learning about investing. I got it for $24.88 per share; Friday it closed at $29.50 a share. Also she has a lot more time until retirement since she is only 15 years old!

I also know you should not invest money you may need for more important things!

 

[toefungus]

Very well said manning. Those are the basics to make money off of stocks, mutual funds, bonds ect....Don't expect to buy Disney stock and make money overnight. It's going to take years 5+ to really make some money.

 

[manning]

Jodi180, Make sure she reinvests the dividends.

 

[Strawman]

I purchased my DIS stock 5 years ago at $35 (actually $105 then a 3:1 split), on the belief that "it has to go up". Well, now it's worth less than half what I paid, and I still don't see anything to jump up and down about. You're not buying Mickey Mouse, you're buying a giant conglomerate that seems to have lost its way.

 

[Bob O]

I own some disney stock and i wouldnt purchase anymore at the current time. The current management hasnt shwon me any proof that they can fix what is wrong with the company. There has been one debacle after another dince Well's death and nothing on the horizon that they have any idea to fix what ails the company.

 

[Goofyposter]

I believe that the current evaluation offers alot of folks who presently have a position in the stock to dollar cost average down with possilbly great effect. I've bot DIS as high as $42 before...I liked it then, I like it now. Everyone must adopt an investment methodology that's right for their particiular circumstance. No equity invest should be made (IMHO) with cash that's needed within a 5 year time horizon. My opinion is that DIS is a long-term core holding....long outlasting "current management"....When I look at the unbelieveable wordwide franchise of intellectual properties, the comparatively strong balance sheet, I personally have no conerns on holding and increasing my exposoure. Sure I "love" disney...that's one of the reasons I do hold the stock...I feel better informed and knowledgeable about it than say owning some company that test's moonrocks or sumpthing. I have a contradictarian streak in me...but if it's a quality company whoses products and services hold an enduring value...even if current management, or the economic environment may not be 'ideal'....I'm confident that 20 years from now I'll be whole and with a reasonable return on the underlying capital.

To be taken as investment advice....but, jurst consider the source! Uhyuck!

 

[PamOKW]

We have a big mix of people who read these boards. Some are very knowledgeable about investing, some know a little (raise hand), and some know relatively nothing. People should just keep in mind that while it's true that the stock market as a whole is generally the best investment, putting money into individual companies is far more risky. Look at folks who owned Enron or WorldCom. That stock is not coming back to the levels it was, if at all.

I was someone who always thought it was a good idea to invest in the company I worked for. After all, we were proud of our work. Luckily, someone explained the danger of that to me. The problem that has now hit many Enron workers. If you work for the same company that you also invest your savings with, you lose everything if it collapses. You lose your present job and your savings in one fell swoop. If your spouse is also an employee....it's even worse.


While it may be true that tough times cause people to turn to entertainment like movies, it's very clear already that it turns them off of traveling and destinations like WDW feel the impact. Corporate belt-tightening also scales back advertising....the lifeblood for the ABC cable and broadcast entities. I sure hope things turn around for Disney, and I'm confident that I will not lose my initial investment, but I have not made very much with them over quite a few years either.

GE is a much more diversified company than Disney. It is almost its own "mutual fund" with holdings ranging from medical equipment and broadcasting to military equipment and financial services to name only a few.

I took a quick look at the charts for GE and Disney. On 8/31/92 GE stock was at $6.10. It closed Friday at $29.50. That's much lower than it's been in recent years but is still a gain of nearly 400%. Disney, on the other hand, was $11.38 on 8/31/92 and closed Friday at $15.31. A 34% gain over the last 10 years.

All that said, most "experts" are still calling Disney a "buy". Here's a link to an Orlando Sentinel article

Disney Stock

 

[manning]

Here is an example of long term investing. I looked at GE and Disney charts, both at the maximum charting available by Yahoo and the year year range. If you chart from 1996 to present it shows GE at about 25% gain and Disney at somewhere around 40% loss. (can't use exact numbers as the % lines are not uniform, i.e. if line is not on a % line, have to take best guess.)

If you chart them from 1962, Disney has a 12,000 percent gain and GE around 8,000 percent gain.

This shows several things. 1) the longer you're in the market (long term Investing) the better your chances. Beware it's not gauranteed). 2) Diversification. notice one went up, the other went down in the five year chart. (this is an oversimplified example, you need to be in more than two companies). and 3) the two companies are in different sectors of the market. GE is in conglomerates and Disney is in entertainment diversified.

Also if you noticed in the extreme short term just about everyone got hit.

Now someone comes along and says "the heck with this, I'm keeping my money in the bank". The problem there is, long term, inflation knocks down your buying power.

Money is a two edge sword. You spend a lot of time acquiring it, then you spend a lot of time preserving it.

 

[PamOKW]

If you chart from 1996 to present it shows GE at about 25% gain and Disney at somewhere around 40% loss

That's probably a pretty good read. SmartMoney has a comparison that can go back 5 years and gives and accurate percentage reading. GE rounds to +28% and DIS -38%.

I remember when I was a kid hearing that the stock market was where wealthy people could make money. One reason was it wasn't in there for this generation, but for the next. As more "every day Joe's" have entered the market, we have to remember that we don't all have that much time to leave our money in the market.

 

[Bstanley]

Careful boys and girls.

Please remember to take into account stock splits when calculating what a stock has done over the years.

I took a quick look at the charts for GE and Disney. On 8/31/92 GE stock was at $6.10. It closed Friday at $29.50. That's much lower than it's been in recent years but is still a gain of nearly 400%. Disney, on the other hand, was $11.38 on 8/31/92 and closed Friday at $15.31. A 34% gain over the last 10 years.

Disney Stock split 3 for 1 in 1998. So if you owned one share on 8/31/92 and kept them till today you would now own 3 so your value would be 3 * $15.31 or $45.93...so it would be worth more than GE by far - yes?

Maybe - as an exercise for the student - what did GE stock do during that time period? ;-)

 

[PamOKW]

so it would be worth more than GE by far - yes?

No. The historic charts adjust the price to accomodate for the splits. The cost of a share is the cost of a share. You just own more of them. For example, today a share of DIS is $3.00 if it splits three-for-one tomorrow you own 3 shares of stock worth a $1.00 each. You still have $3.00 worth of DIS stock. A split let's Disney bring down the price per share to a more affordable amount for new purchasers.

You are correct that a look at GE would show their splits for comparison. I'm guessing they may have had more.