⏰Waiting until it's too late⏰
Hi friends!
Welcome to Better Have My Money, my Monday night newsletter about stocks, investing and trying to figure out your feelings about your financials.
I’m late to most things — parties, work, flights— because I hate waiting and I’m an optimist by nature. Waiting is both boring and stressful.
But I’ve been trying to be more slow and steady with money things. More patient, more responsible. Do I really need this new fun thing or should I just wait a bit and see if the feeling passes? With investing there’s a bunch of different stocks that look great (and not a lot of spare cash in my account) so I’m just waiting and watching and biding my time.
My goal is for a time when the stock suddenly drops but I remain confident in it. For example, I purchased Match (MTCH) stock last year after Facebook announced its new dating feature and Match plummeted 20% in a day. In just over a year, my small investment has risen 92%.
But sometimes my timing sucks — the latest example for me has been Beyond Meat, one of the fake meat companies with burgers that appear bloody thanks to beet juice, IPOed last month.
As I wrote a few weeks ago, I was waiting to see what would happen after the IPO, cause that’s a risky time, while the market tries to figure out what the stock is worth buying and selling at:
More than anything, it’s turbulent af at the beginning. Usually stocks drop down in their second week of trading, and often drop again a few months in. Buying in the first few days of the IPO can be a way to make good money, and also a good way to lose it.
Well, Beyond Meat (and yes, to be clear, it is extremely early days) has been an absolute bloody win for early investors. It is up 578% from its pre-IPO price of $25 a share, closing today at $169.
Meaning, if you bought $1000 worth of Beyond Meat stock on day one, it would be worth $6788 today.
It’s one of those reminders that the stock market can be a magnificent gambling scam if you’re willing to play the game. To be clear, actual experts are reporting that Beyond Meat is probably is a bubble and the money will *pop* disappear, but right now it just feels like I’m missing out on the fun.
A pal of mine decided to buy a handful of Beyond Meat shares as part of her vegetarian agenda. She got one at $59, another at $79, and her mother bought her four at about $60.
Again, analysts are split on Beyond Meat, or at least not as eager for it as buyers currently are. The highest price target for it is $125 — but JP Morgan ranked it as an overweight stock.
Confusing term of the day: “overweight” — a rating that means the company is regarded as better value or a best choice in its sector, essentially giving it a buy recommendation.
I eagerly awaited the first quarterly report thinking, thinking that perhaps Beyond Meat would have not great results and the price would tumble down (I wanted to pay about $50 per share). Alas, it posted better-than-expected sales.
For my vegetarian-agenda friend, the boost in Beyond Meat has a very specific, immediate impact.
“I just bought my wedding dress and this like almost paid for it,” she said. “I need to calculate it out and I'm hesitant to sell but it makes me feel better spending a lotta money on a dress.”
Good for her I guess, I’m still mad my money hasn’t increased several hundred percent in a month.
Tell me when you’ve waited — and bought something excellent at a great price, or been like me and felt like you flubbed it, big time, by stalling too long.
My birthday is on Wednesday. You can celebrate by chucking some dollars towards Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, who do a great job protecting journalists and their work.
Tomorrow I’ve got an early flight. I’ll try not to be late to it.
Have a fun week,
Amber Jamieson
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As always, if you've got any questions about stocks, this is a shame free zone. Just reply and ask away.