Good question.
Yes but I found someone smarter than me with better advice: https://twitter.com/mintzmyer?s=21
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Interesting info in that area. Bought a small bit of $DAC, not enough to make a dent, but did ok.
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For those not good at reading charts even when they look like a trail map of Everest. In Nov '20 when the O.P was considering buying it was $10.30 share. At some point on Jan 12th it was $31.21 a share & now it is nearly $84 a share & no indication that it will be leveling out anytime soon. A 800% return in 11 months. Dang.
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DAC “almost definitely” did not perform worse than the market as a whole.
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Whats the real value of shares once the Fed stop printing money?
When will that be?
( make sure your broker is on speed dial)
Just found this thread. I am heavily invested in maritime shipping stocks. I have seen mention of J Mintzmyer here. If you aren’t part of SeekingAlpha, check them out. J has his own service, Value Investors Edge (VIE). It is not cheap but is absolutely essential for most investors in shipping. I hope @john still has his DAC (I didn’t read every post in the thread). Shipping very volatile and very cyclical, both of which mean it can be very profitable too. I do belong to VIE, but am not representing them, compensated by them, etc.
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Yes, but shipping stocks scare me. John has done well with DAC and I assume he has cashed out enough to cover his original investment along with a profit. I saw FRO get pumped up by Freidriksen and his buddies from $8 to over $300/share. They cashed out at the top but it is around $8/share now.This is not a coincidence and they were not just lucky, they manipulated the stock price. The problem with shipping stocks is it is almost impossible to determine their intrinsic value. Ships registered in one country but debt held in another country thru a labyrinth of other companies registered in Cyprus, Liechtenstein etc where reporting rules are opaque.I will guarantee a good many of the people on this forum do not know who the owners of their ship is. Example; I last worked on a drillship, the company I worked for had headquarters in the USA for personnel purposes but was owned by a LLC in the city of London, not to be confused with England. The ship itself was actually owned by a shell corporation in Poland
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Yes, that’s why you really have to have some sort of professional assistance, like VIE offers. Otherwise, as you mention, it is really hard to separate the wheat from the chaff (and there’s a lot of chaff).
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Wrong. Shipping is not volatile by its own nature. It is like trucking, aviation, even taxi cabs. It is just another transportation method. Pandemics like Covid can disrupt, so can fuel prices but after all is said and done it makes no difference over the long term… Maersk figured this out long ago. The investable companies have little debt relative to income from revenue.
I’ve owned FRO 4 or 5 times & made a healthy profit on it. I figure I’m 400% up on it all combined. IMO, when it comes to investing in shipping it’s like every other sector. As a wise man once said, “The secret to survivin’ is knowin’ what to throw away and knowin’ what to keep 'cause every hand’s a winner, and every hand’s a loser and the best that you can hope for…”. Shipping & several other industries aren’t the buy it & forget it investments. Buy & forget it investors should stick with @Capt_Phoenix advice of not buying individual stocks. The OP & most people who visit a maritime forum every day should be up to speed enough to not buy & get stuck with a $80 FRO share. I’m not buying DAC now for sure.
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Sorry, I meant “shipping stock prices”, not shipping itself.
Nope, I’ve been buying more on the way up.
In my defense I do have a stop loss order in to protect much more than my original investment.
One of the authors of this book (Paul Johnson) was a close adviser to gCaptain for years (the other, Geoffrey A. Moore, is the top advisor to many of the biggest silicon valley tech firms).
It dispells the myth of diversification better than anything else I’ve ever read: The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology by Geoffrey A. Moore and Paul Johnson
The main takeaway is there is no safety in the stock market… every investment is risky. What’s less risky (and vastly more profitable) is to pick a few truly great companies you know well and watch them like a hawk. (not that DAC is a “truly” great company… but it is a solid company during a “truly” great time for investors in shipping)
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DAC is currently doing well and I wish I had bought when you did but FRO, among other shipping stocks burned me. A stop loss order is prudent in any stock, problem is can it be filled? When FRO collapsed no buyers were available to cover the loss order.
I’m of the class that experienced the internet bubble, the S&L blow up as well as the great recession of 2009-12. That does not make me smart just very cautious.
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That’s why I have avoided the entire sector for over a decade. It’s also why the title of this post is asking you guys to talk me out of buying DAC.
Me too. Actually my dad died in 1999 and his entire retirement was paid out in cash which our family mostly invested in stocks. Not fun.
That’s a real risk. My general stock philosophy is to scale into winners and cut losers fast but, like every strategy, this comes with problems.
I had said I’m not a billionaire and DAC is still less than 10% of my portfolio. we’re talking relatively small amounts of money.
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You’re young and can take a loss and recover, eventually if your stock goes south. Me? With valuations in the nosebleed category and considering my age I am 50% into inflation adjusted bonds and some long term value stocks. Years ago I had a Bloomberg terminal and knew a few of the “geniuses” from hedge funds as well as with GS, ML, Salomon and other houses. Whithout fail when I asked them what the stock market was going to do they all, if honest, said they had no clue. They simply hedged and tried to turn in quarterly performance to get their bonuses. They lived on a quarterly pay system. Their advice to me? Buy BRK.A or B and the maximum inflation protected US savings bonds you can buy each year. Gamble with the rest.
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Aside from DAC I made a lot of money last year, then lost most of it, then made more than I thought was possible early this year, then gave back most (not all) of it.
My new strategy is to immediately put 1/4th of my “winnings” into SPY and 1/4th into BRK.B the moment I liquidate any position at a gain.
Spy and brk could tumble too but, like you said, I have time to ride those positions out.
PS I ‘m flattered that you think I can afford BRK.A 
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I bought BRK.A many years ago with a small inheritance, I was an admirer of Benjamin Graham and with much trepidation invested my unearned money with BRK.A. I feel guilty at having such good fortune but even with that investment I know I could lose +50% at any time. Doesn’t bother me. My offspring will have enough to eat if they are thrifty. Also I have never seen a luggage rack on a hearse. 
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Perhaps I should add for the younger folks who follow this forum that avoiding divorce is of incalculable benefit in preserving investments. One of the few advantages of getting old is the reduced libido.
Yes! And the majority of that is determined by your selection (or refusal to select anyone) process.
Also, marrying someone thrifty is of incalculable benefit.
Also the one piece of advice I did not follow: it’s just as easy to fall in love with a well off gal as a poor one.
(She doesn’t have to be a debutante or a Bezos but ask yourself this… If there is a medical emergency, or you need a little help buying a house, or someone is out of work for a few months, or you’re blessed with triplets, or the wedding bill is due… Are her relatives going to be asking you for help or are you going to be asking hers?)
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