What now for BT..?

C_Mababejive

I wonder what people think about BT as an investment? True if you had held it since privatisation (£1.30) you have had 36 years worth of dividends but the share price has ebbed and flowed and has reached the dizzy heights of over £10 and wallowed as low as 98 pence but hat of the future? BT is trying to restructure, it is still a pension fund that sells phones and presumably they are a vulnerable takeover target ? There was also talk of splitting BT and Openreach which seems to have been forgotten for now? Surely things can only get better?

Thrugelmir

Not a share I'd single out for special attention. Best held as part of a collective fund investment. 

[Deleted User]

I buy them as a long term thing, not serious money.

Steve182

May appear to look like good value at the moment but not something I would invest in personally...

HansOndabush

Due to the pension liability, I can't see it doing well as pensions can get no decent returns at the moment; just like the rest of us.

Steve182

Steve182 said:

May appear to look like good value at the moment but not something I would invest in personally...

Why not consider something that's going in the right direction instead.....something like this?


 

C_Mababejive

Thanks, i omitted a small detail. I'm just thinking about what current investors should do? what are the prospects for a recovery or is it dead and buried for decades? Maybe a short term wait and see for a covid recovery in line with many investments? It would be a shame to dump and then find it ramp up as a takeover target??

Thrugelmir

If I held the share, which I don't.  It would treated like any other.  List the pros and cons.  Consider whether the money would be better used in another opportunity. 

Far too often investing becomes emotional. Taking a hit (i.e. realising a loss) isn't in every investors DNA.   Do it often enough and you'll learn to become emotionally detached. Just ensure that you have more winners than losers. Run your winners is a better strategy. 

HansOndabush

Thrugelmir said:

If I held the share, which I don't.  It would treated like any other.  List the pros and cons.  Consider whether the money would be better used in another opportunity. 

Far too often investing becomes emotional. Taking a hit (i.e. realising a loss) isn't in every investors DNA.   Do it often enough and you'll learn to become emotionally detached. Just ensure that you have more winners than losers. Run your winners is a better strategy. 

'Run your winners' is a glib statement. How exactly do you know you have a winner and not just an over-valued share that you ought to be shot of? How do you know if a share drops whether it is a temporary setback or a permanent change of direction? How do you know some unknown disaster is not about to be revealed that will cause the price to halve or go to worthless as happened with FTSE 100 company NMC?

I have had winners that I sold and went on to become bigger winners; winners that I kept that became losers, and losers that I kept (sometimes 95% losers) that went on to become winners. It is nothing like as straightforward as 'taking a hit' and 'run your winners' as you suggest in my experience.

Thrugelmir

HansOndabush said:

Thrugelmir said:

If I held the share, which I don't.  It would treated like any other.  List the pros and cons.  Consider whether the money would be better used in another opportunity. 

Far too often investing becomes emotional. Taking a hit (i.e. realising a loss) isn't in every investors DNA.   Do it often enough and you'll learn to become emotionally detached. Just ensure that you have more winners than losers. Run your winners is a better strategy. 

'Run your winners' is a glib statement. How exactly do you know you have a winner and not just an over-valued share that you ought to be shot of? 

Do things many don't do for starters, perform your own research. Read the company accounts when they are published, follow trading updates. Read comprehensive analysts reports. Read heavyweight financial press coverage. Attend the Company's AGM.  As I said weigh up the pros and cons for yourself.  If you get 7 in 10 decisions right. Then you'll be making a reasonable return year in year out.