rokers is likely to sell up in price while the
advertising is going on and will drop in price just as soon as the
advertising stops.

Many people notice that and they think they can profit by buying when
the advertising starts and sell out when they get a good profit, but the
majority of them lose money. The stock may not respond to the
advertising, or if it does go up, they may wait too long before selling.
Those who do sell and make 200% or 300% profit in a very short time are
almost sure to lose it all in an effort to repeat the transaction. Many
of those who read this know it is true from their own experience.

You should leave such stocks strictly alone. You may win once or twice,
but you are sure to lose if you keep it up. As a rule stocks of this
kind have very little value and the brokers who boost them make their
own money from the losses of their foolish followers.

CHAPTER VII.

WHEN TO BUY STOCKS

Stocks should be bought when they are cheap. By being cheap, we mean
that the market price is much less than the intrinsic value. In Chapters
X. to XV. we talk about influences that affect the price movements of
stocks. By studying these carefully you should be able to decide when
stocks generally are cheap. Of course, not all stocks are cheap at the
same time, but the majority of listed stocks do go up and down at the
same time, as a rule.

At the time of this writing (in the early part of April, 1922) there are
a great many stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange that are
selling at prices much less than their intrinsic values, but there are
some stocks that should not be bought now, nor at any other time. There
are some stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange now that perhaps
have no intrinsic value and never will have any. Nevertheless we
consider that right now[1] is one of the times for buying stocks. There
are unusual bargains to be had, although keen discrimination is
necessary in order to be able to pick out the bargains.

As a usual thing, it is a good time to buy stocks when nearly everybody
wants to sell them. When general business conditions are bad, trading on
the stock exchanges very light, and everybody you meet appears to be
pessimistic, then we advise you to look for bargains in stocks. The last
six months of 1921 was an unusually good time for buying stocks.

It is well known that the large interests accumulate stocks at such
times. They buy only when the stocks are off