Don't Play This Game

In my younger days, I was fascinated by the idea of trading during earnings season. The allure of potential one-day gains of 20% or more tempted me. I thought that if I did enough research, analyzed Wall Street's expectations, and thoroughly studied a company's performance, I could make calculated bets on whether that company would beat expectations, leading to a sharp rise in its stock price. Well, I was wrong.

What should you do? Keep investing in a diversified portfolio of great companies such as Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) -- which I recommended in my Rising Star Portfolio -- or dividend stalwarts like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) -- two companies that James Early and I recommended to members of the Motley Fool's Income Investor service. Mix in some top-tier small- and mid-cap companies like Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM) and Panera (Nasdaq: PNRA) -- two companies that I have on my watchlist -- and buy these companies when they are trading at attractive prices.

Source: Motley Fool

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