Time To Sell Your Winners

Happy New Year. 2005 is a wonderful ride for some and a horrible one for others. Now, it is time to sell your winners. Now? Yes, now. 2005 has brought some of these winners to incredible gains. It is time to sell these stocks. Check this out:

NutriSystem (NTRI), up 1,308%
GeoGlobal Resources (GGR), up 1,032%
Peerless Systems (PRLS), up 535%
ViroPharma (VPHM), up 517%
Fieldpoint Petroleum (FPP), up 512%

These are the best performing stocks according to MSN.com. You might argue that these stocks have more rooms to run. You might be right. But history is not in your favor. What does history tells us? History tells us that the best performing stocks of the previous year will not do well this year. Want more proof? Here are several examples:

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) up 1131% in 1999, down 47.7% in 2000.
Taser International (TASR) up 2040% in 2003, down 61.5% in 2004.
Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) up 1056% in 2004, down 75.8% in 2005.

So, what causes their price to fall in the subsequent year? No. They do not make major misstep and become bankrupt. They are still delivering outstanding profit growth compared to their peers. But their stock price merely went up too much and too fast. Reality finally sets in and stock prices took a breather on the following year.

If you own the best performing stock for 2005, it is prudent to re-evaluate the fundamental of the company. If stock price went ahead of its fundamental, you'll be better off to sell them now and wait until they get cheaper. Historically, it has been a wise decision for most of these stocks.