Did I do a stupid?

[FIREflower]

Thanks for all the feedback and info, everyone!

 

[stephenson]

This statement seems a bit "soft" and pretty narrow for a tough, competitive market ... and, a market with slowing birth rates.

"About Owlet, Inc.

Owlet was founded by a team of parents in 2012. Owlet’s mission is to empower parents with the right information at the right time, to give them more peace of mind and help them find more joy in the journey of parenting. Owlet’s digital parenting platform aims to give parents real-time data and insights to help parents feel more calm and confident. Owlet believes that every parent deserves peace of mind and the opportunity to feel their well-rested best. Owlet also believes that every child deserves to live a long, happy, and healthy life, and is working to develop products to help further that belief."

 

[matjung]

This statement seems a bit "soft" and pretty narrow for a tough, competitive market ... and, a market with slowing birth rates.

"About Owlet, Inc.

Owlet was founded by a team of parents in 2012. Owlet’s mission is to empower parents with the right information at the right time, to give them more peace of mind and help them find more joy in the journey of parenting. Owlet’s digital parenting platform aims to give parents real-time data and insights to help parents feel more calm and confident. Owlet believes that every parent deserves peace of mind and the opportunity to feel their well-rested best. Owlet also believes that every child deserves to live a long, happy, and healthy life, and is working to develop products to help further that belief."

It is a good story for doing a startup. Maybe not the best concept for make it growth and prosper.
Elon Musk probably never engineered a car. The people he work with do.
The failure of Theranos is certainly not adding value and trust into this startup. The founders have to work harder in attracting suitable talent for profitable growth.
Do we know a few more startups in the field of wearables?
Then we could compare who is doing better.

 

[Sunset]

OP - One option would to sell all your shares now. Then in 31 days buy them back. The only time this won't make sense is if you loss is small and the stock goes up in value in the next 30 days by a good amount.


Alternatively, you could double your investment as it's at 2.22 right now. then wait 31 days and sell the original shares. Hopefully you sell them at 2.22 or even higher, and you will collect the loss to claim for taxes.

This choice fails if the stock continues to fall.


As for the company, I get the attraction about how they can help parents. I recall sleeping lightly to waken to any noise/moan from the baby, or the lack of breathing sounds. Very nerve wracking.

Also though, like baby car seats, once a couple is done having children, they would pass on the device or sell it meaning the market is reduced. Maybe they can avoid this by renting the App with monthly fees or other selling techniques.


Note: I say 31 days to be safe, but the IRS wash rules say 30 days

 

[gooddog]

If this still in the SPAC phase you will get $10/share back. If it has been converted to an a company stock, then that is a different case. At this point, I would hang on, as you don't have much to lose by holding on to it...you have lost 80% already if you bought in at the traditional SPAC pricing. FYI, most SPACs are priced at $10, some are priced higher. SPACs can make you a lot of money if played correctly. Made a ton on QuantumScape last year. Bought it when it was a SPAC, and sold it when it after the IPO.

 

[kingkarmann]

If you have invested your nest egg then yes probably not wise.
I’m in the beginning of my retirement. Very conservative and normally don’t stomach too much risk.
I did recently invest a token amount into a SPAC.
Like you, I’m very familiar with the industry my particular investment is involved with. I’m probably more attracted with my heart more than my head.
My FA knows this particular investment is self directed so they let me play.
It’s not enough of the overall portfolio to make a difference.
Hey, if it does well I’ll use it for a nice vacation!

 

[pdxgal]

I invested play money in a stock I thought was a sure thing. There was an article I read in the WSJ on "real Solar" and the upcoming Solar explosion and why it should be a buy

In 1997 I read a WSJ "article" about the company where I worked. In a nutshell the content just fed back what the company's president wanted people to believe, which I knew to be BS. The "reporter" didn't do any independent research or validation. That reinforced the axiom to not believe everything you read.

I also "bet" some play money on a couple dot com stocks in the late 90s then watched them become worthless in the crash. That stopped my dabbling in individual stocks.

 

[cpaBJB]

It's only January, so may as well let it ride. Re-evaluate in December and if it's still down you can sell for tax writeoff.

 

[Sunset]

If this still in the SPAC phase you will get $10/share back. If it has been converted to an a company stock, then that is a different case. At this point, I would hang on, as you don't have much to lose by holding on to it...you have lost 80% already if you bought in at the traditional SPAC pricing. FYI, most SPACs are priced at $10, some are priced higher. SPACs can make you a lot of money if played correctly. Made a ton on QuantumScape last year. Bought it when it was a SPAC, and sold it when it after the IPO.

How does one find out about SPAC's or know something is a SPAC ?

 

[mickeyd]

recently decided to throw some "play" money into stocks

Of your total investable assets, what % is invested in this?

 

[FIREflower]

Of your total investable assets, what % is invested in this?

Almost .5% of it.

 

[Cortina]

Looks "interesting" , but a gamble ? I decide to gamble a bit today and bought some at $1.79 .... will try to forget about them for a while ... but as my investment was only for 1000 shares , I will ?? maybe buy some more if it goes down a bit more .... NOT always a good idea !!
Not a company that would normally have made it onto my radar .... so hope the OP has done me a good turn (May make up for my prior OTLY decision !! - cough)

 

[Cortina]

Looks "interesting" , but a gamble ? I decide to gamble a bit today and bought some at $1.79 .... will try to forget about them for a while ... but as my investment was only for 1000 shares , I will ?? maybe buy some more if it goes down a bit more .... NOT always a good idea !!
Not a company that would normally have made it onto my radar .... so hope the OP has done me a good turn (May make up for my prior OTLY decision !! - cough)

Update : Bought a few more (Mid Feb) at 1.65 : It has crept up this month , with the odd jump like today with an 18.8% increase , which is odd - but only because the shares are "so cheap". Up nearly 80% since purchase , which is a nice figure , but not worth a lot ($) ............ since I only bought 2000 shares !
Will hold for now and watch what happens.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

I apologize for not having read the entire thread. But as a new mom, i LOVE owlet and we do not do without it. WHen we got wind they were pulling product from the marketplace we bought another to put in a drawer in case of problems with the first, We like it that much. Owlet will come back I think, but there will be lots of imitators. Some poor, and maybe some better. But they were the first. Halobabys heartrate is 131. Just put ehr down and Im having dinner.

Also isnt there a psyhological thing like gambling where we dont ever want to admit we are wrong, and instead stay too long in something and ride it to the ground, or worse double down to make our money back and lose twice as much? yeah dont do that. SOunds to me like you thought you had but learned you dont have the stomach for indicidual stock picking if this bothers you badly enough to stop lurking and post. SO maybe you paid for a good lesson in what your risk tolerance truly is, and thats valuable and worth the money you (may have?) lost.

 

[FIREflower]

Update : Bought a few more (Mid Feb) at 1.65 : It has crept up this month , with the odd jump like today with an 18.8% increase , which is odd - but only because the shares are "so cheap". Up nearly 80% since purchase , which is a nice figure , but not worth a lot ($) ............ since I only bought 2000 shares !
Will hold for now and watch what happens.

Thanks for mentioning it, I checked and if I sold now I'd have a whopping $146.89 profit.

...but I gotta admit I reeaaaally like the idea of wait and see what happens.

I'd be tickled by my part in it if your gamble pays off well for you!

 

[Cortina]

well .... for a change , LUCK (and it was pure luck) was on my side . On Friday , I sold half my holding for $5.16 each which was exactly 3 times my averaged buy price - and noticed just now that it's down 30% today ............... did something happen that I missed


Before you get excited , while the % figs are very very good , the gamble was small ($) , but I now have to think of either lying low , or buying back in again at this reduced figure , hmmm ..................

 

[ownyourfuture]

well .... for a change , LUCK (and it was pure luck) was on my side . On Friday , I sold half my holding for $5.16 each which was exactly 3 times my averaged buy price - and noticed just now that it's down 30% today ............... did something happen that I missed


Before you get excited , while the % figs are very very good , the gamble was small ($) , but I now have to think of either lying low , or buying back in again at this reduced figure , hmmm ..................

Good job!
Now down over 40%
3.0800 -2.1300 (-40.8829%)
Can't find any news that would explain the drop ?

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

Good job!
Now down over 40%
3.0800 -2.1300 (-40.8829%)
Can't find any news that would explain the drop ?

deSpac's getting crushed today.

 

[Cortina]

.....and look at this now , sub $1. Reinvestment not looking so clever "today" !!

 

[latexman]

Alas, I recently decided to throw some "play" money into stocks in a company I personally believe in but is currently....tanking big time.

Last 5 years OWLT has been up the first 2 years and headed downhill the last 3 years. Depending on how recent is recently, your timeline expectations of gains are . . . unrealistic. Stocks are usually long term investments. Remember, Uncle Warren said, "If you aren't willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes."

You really don’t have the “insider knowledge” to play the ups and downs of OWLT successfully, and even then, it’s gambling, not investing.

Let’s accept it was “play money”, if in 5-10 years it’s still a loser, sell. My $0.02.

 

[Lstansbury]

Maybe not a "stupid" as much as a victim of fraud.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rel...t-inc-securities-fraud-lawsuit-301456589.html

Lawyers are looking for Class Action leads.

Wow, so the company leadership knew they would need to get FDA approval (which is tough), but didn't disclose it? If this is true, no wonder the leadership shake up. A few people were "skating fast over thin ice."

If the CEO is still there, which means he/she approved this mess, I would become part of the class action suit. Then I would probably sell. Even though they might have a great item and market, you'll never get good info from them. And the lawsuit will be hanging around their necks.

PS -- I only hold equities of any kind that I can stomach a 50% or more loss in. An individual investor seldom gets all the inside skinny on any company, at least in my experience. Even the people who work there don't get to know what's going on inside the CEO/CFO/Board side conversations.

 

[matjung]

Where do you see a drop or crash?
The quote has been stable at around 1 Dollar for the last 30 days, hasn't it.

 

[Fermion]

I've done my own version of stupid with Vanda Pharma. I have been stuck in it for over a year now.

I'm going to hold onto it though. $8 in cash on a $10 stock with a good supply of darts and a dartboard only 5 feet away, they can't always miss, can they? Eventually something has to stick.