At The Motley Fool, we talk a lot about the importance of having a good temperament when confronting the aggravating ups and downs of the stock market. We also feel that having a long-term time horizon increases the chances of success for ordinary investors.
With that in mind, we were very impressed by the thinking of an ex-Facebook employee named Ezra Callahan who shared his thoughts recently about the decline in the company's share price.
He very honestly admitted that he was feeling very frustrated with the market. The company has always had a long-term focus, and nothing meaningful has changed about it in the last six to 12 months. According to Callahan, the price volatility makes no sense to him. He does remain optimistic, however, and feels very good about "what Facebook is going to do over the next five years and beyond."
David and John felt investors could learn a lot from Callahan's remarks. For example, Callahan made them recall Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, who told his employees to focus on the customer instead of looking at the stock price. Keeping one's emotions in check is perhaps the most difficult job of an investor. If a business can create value over the long term, the stock market will eventually reward it. That's how John and David have been thinking of their investment in Facebook. All this negativity today, in fact, might be creating an excellent long-term opportunity for patient investors with good temperaments.
After the world's most hyped IPO turned out to be a disappointment in the short term, most investors probably don't even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We've outlined them in our newest premium research report. There is a lot more to this company than meets the eye, so read up on whether there is anything to "like" about them today, and we'll tell you whether we think Facebook deserves a place in your portfolio. Access your report by clicking here.
