I have been tracking and investing in DBS since 2008 when the Global Financial Crisis started. I believe in DBS’ potential of growing their business. However, with the crisis in 2008/09, I sold them to reduce exposure in the banking sector. From 2011 to 2014, I took profit too early.
The table below shows the dates of transactions, buy and sell prices of each lot. I bought into the stock 8 times over the span of 5+ years and sold off each time at the selling prices indicated in the table.
| Date bought | Buy | Sell | Profit | Remarks |
| 5-Sep-08 | 17.20 | 17.36 | 0.16 | |
| 17-Oct-08 | 13.30 | 9.10 | -4.20 | |
| 23-Dec-08 | 9.20 | 9.30 | 0.10 | |
| 2-Feb-09 | 5.42 | 10.46 | 5.04 | Rights issue |
| 5-Aug-11 | 14.50 | 15.70 | 1.20 | |
| 12-Sep-11 | 12.39 | 13.50 | 1.11 | |
| 15-Jan-13 | 14.32 | 14.95 | 0.63 | |
| 4-Feb-14 | 16.30 | 18.46 | 2.16 | |
| Total | 6.20 |
For all the buy and sell trades, I managed to make $5,450 (after deducting transaction costs).
If I held on to these shares and sold them all at yesterday’s price of $20.56, I would have made about $53,000. That is the price for cashing out too quickly. I did not foresee that the banking stocks would shoot up so high in 2014. It also boils down to fear of losing money since each lot of DBS was a huge outlay for me. This also suggests that buy-and-hold strategy works for some stocks provided you have the gut for volatility of share prices.
On the flip side, I actually protected my downside risks by cashing out early just in case the stock collapses and not recover to the level of my purchases. This is real emotional ride when investing in stocks.
Note: I did not factor in opportunity costs when presenting this analysis.
Copyright © 2014, limkimtong for Living Investment
The material presented is intended to be general and written in layman’s language as much as it is possible. The author shall not be liable for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of material written. Please seek professional advice from your financial advisor or financial institutions on material written covering financial matters.
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