Episode summary
When Should Investors Buy a Stock?
Zacks Market Edge
· · 34 min · Hosts: Tracey Ryniec, Mark Zinski, Neena Mishra, Ethan Feller
Summary
The host argues that the hardest part of investing is often deciding when to buy, especially for long-term investors who do not use a trading system. She says a strategy matters because it can prevent paralysis, and she highlights Zacks Rank as one possible trigger: strong buys and buys often signal that analysts are raising earnings estimates, even if the ranking is only short term.
She walks through five examples that each create a different buying dilemma. McDonald’s (MCD) is a stock making multi-year lows, but she says it still does not look cheap enough for a true value buyer. SanDisk (SNDK) shows how a momentum name can rebound after a sharp selloff if the growth story remains intact. Nvidia (NVDA), despite a huge long run, still looks supported by rising estimates and a Zacks #1 rank. Newmont (NEM) illustrates the challenge of buying a cyclical commodity stock in the middle of a gold bull market. Citigroup (C) shows how a sideways stock can still be attractive when valuation and earnings growth remain compelling.
Key takeaways
- The host says market timing is nearly impossible, so investors need a repeatable buying framework rather than perfect precision.
- McDonald’s (MCD) is still not cheap enough for her to buy as a true value investor, despite its selloff and dividend.
- Nvidia (NVDA) remains a buy candidate for her because earnings estimates are still rising and the stock has a Zacks #1 rank.
- Newmont (NEM) is best approached with dollar-cost averaging because commodity stocks can swing sharply even in a bull cycle.
- Citigroup (C) looks attractive on a price-to-book basis at 1.18, with earnings expected to rise 40% this year.
- She says SanDisk (SNDK) is a momentum stock where the key question is whether the growth story remains intact after the pullback.
Notable quotes
“the traders know when to buy because they're using their trading strategies”
“something good is usually going on at the company to have that kind of rank”
“it's nearly impossible to market time a bottom on a stock that's falling like this”
“I would be taking a big position if I had extra cash on the sidelines in a stock like Nvidia right now”
How the episode opens
Stocks, bonds, ETFs, straight out of downtown Chicago. This is Zach's Market Edge. Welcome to Zach's Market Edge, the podcast about investing in your life.
I'm your host, Tracy Reinick, and this week I'm going solo to talk about a question that someone who listens to the podcast sent in to me. When do you know when to buy a stock? We've talked a lot about when to sell one, but when do you know when to buy one?
And you can get kind of frozen a lot of times, especially in a market that is either very hot or kind of cold. You can kind of get cold feet yourself on when to buy. Now, I do think that there's a difference between the traders and the long-term investors.
the traders know when to buy because they're using their trading strategies. It's uh you know following the chart. Maybe it's a 50 moving day, it's a 200 moving day or you're looking at Fibonacci levels or you have some other kind of strategy with the chart that tells you or gives you a signal on when you should be buying and maybe when you should be selling.
So, they have it a little bit easier. But what about the long-term investor who's just out there trying to find good quality companies to buy and they have their list and then they get kind of frozen again uh when they go in to buy even if they've got the cash on hand. And then there's a second question on when to know when to buy and that is do you deploy all the money upfront?
do you dollar cost average in? There's a lot of emotions involved in investing, especially um on the buy and the sell side of things.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- when to buy stocks
- market entry timing
- investor psychology
- stock selection
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Zacks
Watch the episode
Watch “When Should Investors Buy a Stock?” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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