How To Break Up With Your Stock

You've had some good times ogether. You’ve had some bad times. Now you have to decide if it’s time for your stock to start seeing other people. Selling isn’t easy, especially if you’ve been together for a long time.

- John Waggoner

The best reason to sell a stock is that it’s no longer doing what you bought it to do, such as deliver increasing levels of sales and earnings. “You won’t know when to sell unless you’ve come up with a sell plan before you buy,” says Stephen DuFour, manager of Fidelity Focused Stock Fund.

If a stock you bought for its growth prospects misses Wall Street earnings expectations, for example, you should keep your eye on it— but you probably shouldn’t push the sell button right away. If that stock suffers a string of quarterly misses, send it to Palookaville. Kraft Heinz saw its earnings fall for three quarters before posting a stunning $12.61 billion loss for 2018 in February.