In this edition of The Motley Fool's "Ask a Fool" series, Motley Fool analysts Jason Moser and Brendan Mathews take a question from a reader who asks, "What is your Foolish take on this year's weather?"
The weather can certainly affect some companies more adversely than others. Restaurants and retail can witness slower traffic. But other companies that are geared toward meeting their customers or members on their own terms can do well in tough times. Either way, while the weather can play out on any given company in the short term, it should never come into play for a long-term investor's thesis; there's simply no way to predict what the weather will do over the course of the next five years or more. In fact, oftentimes, while weather can send a stock's price down in the short run, long-term investors can see this as a window of opportunity, as long as the fundamentals of the business are still intact.
