There are an increasing number of stocks -- especially companies that have gone public via a SPAC merger -- that are extremely long-term bets. It can be OK to take a very small portion of your portfolio and invest it in some of these companies, if only because they represent a vision for the future you believe in. In this "The 5" segment from Motley Fool Live recorded Sept. 30, Fool contributors Brian Withers and Toby Bordelon discuss why Virgin Galactic Holdings (SPCE -1.09%) is just this kind of stock.
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Brian Withers: "Virgin Galactic Holdings, SPCE, it's a moderate Motley Fool recommendation down 50 percent, two percent of the portfolio. Thoughts, please. Hang tight or add to positions of Virgin Galactic." Vihan, we can't provide personal advice. But I am going to take your question in general. If a company is two percent of your portfolio, and we talked about this yesterday I think a little bit, is just because something is down doesn't make it a great buy. It's a little bit counter-intuitive. Oftentimes, companies that are going to do the best are constantly hitting all-time highs, and so that's tough to get your head around. But I would look at what companies are you most excited about, most confident in? Those are the companies that you invest in and then take some small portion of that decision process and look at the stock price. Nick, Toby, do you have anything to add?
Toby Bordelon: Yeah, I can add a little bit on that specifically. I own this company. Personally, it's probably less than one percent of our portfolio. It's a small position. I am not personally inclined to add to it right now nor am I inclined to sell it. I think it's a lot for me. It's an uber long-term holding. I bought it because I'm just fascinated by space. This is one of those optimistic future things. I want humanity to be in space, I want to see humanity go beyond the era to live and work beyond this planet. That's honestly why I bought the stock. It's that it allows me to be optimistic with my portfolio to share a far-reaching vision of the future.
But it's not something that I necessarily expect to give me great returns anytime soon. I think it's a long-term play. I think it could go to zero. I think the same, it could totally blow up literally and figuratively. So you'd be careful, decide appropriately. But I think it's OK to do that sometimes, to take a small part of your portfolio and say, "I don't know if I'm ever going to get anything from this, but I want to own this because it makes me feel good." That's what I did with this.
Withers: Yeah. I think Virgin Galactic is going to continue to be volatile going forward.
Bordelon: Absolutely. I think it went up like 11 percent, 15 percent today or yesterday and it's going to go up and down wildly. It's going to do its thing.
