Hypercom

HYC

Company. "Hypercom Corporation is a leading global provider of electronic payment solutions that add value at the point-of-transaction for consumers, merchants and acquirers, and yield increased profitability for its customers." (company website)

Buy. I bought Hypercom last June at what turned out to be the high for the year. At the time it seemed like a good idea: there had been several days of very high volume price rises, money was flowing into HYC like there was no tomorrow (CMF), and the trend was strong (ADX).

At the time, I was expecting HYC to pull back a bit. What I didn't count on was an announcement at the end of July to lower guidance for the quarter. HYC plunged on very heavy volume. For the next four months, I managed to find always a reason to hold on, even though the pattern was clear.

Sell. I finally decided to sell today when HYC broke down below $5.50, meaning a loss of more than $3 per share. I could see no sign for optimism and decided to bail for whatever I could get.

This is a terrific example of why you need to set and enforce a bail-out price. If I had done so, it would have saved me at least $2 per share.