Jim Cramer told CNBC Make It that five investing mistakes taught him hard lessons: holding losing stocks too long, overconfidence, blindly following advice, panic-selling and relying on one indicator. He said learning from them helped make him a better investor.
Cramer said he held Bausch Health despite missed profit forecasts and earlier-than-expected patent expirations, trusting the company’s public relations team instead of investigating warning signs; he said the mistake cost him “a fortune.” He also assumed Estée Lauder would recover after COVID-19 hit China, its biggest market, but pulled out only after its stock fell from $370 to around $90 amid weaker demand and a Chinese government crackdown on luxury goods.
In 2023, Cramer sold Oracle after other parts of its business disappointed and analysts turned bearish, just weeks before the stock rebounded following encouraging AI-related developments. He said there was no evidence that the long-term reasons he bought the stock were under threat. He also cautioned against blindly following wealthy investors’ advice or treating bond yields as a flawless economic forecast, suggesting investors compare forecasts with other indicators.
