Ford Motor Slumps in 2005

Most Ford Motor (F) investors did not fare well in 2005. The stock closed the year at $7.72, down 45.4 percent.

Based on the 252 daily closes there were 31,626 buy and sell combinations for the year. The return for each buy and sell combination is simply the realized or unrealized (paper) percentage gain or loss that results from buying the stock on a given day and then selling or holding it on another day.

Because Ford was on the downside most of the year, the unprofitable buy and sell combinations easily outnumbered the profitable ones 26,601 (84.11%) to 5,025 (15.89%). The average return for the 31,626 buy and sell combinations was -13.51%. The average return is computed using the return of each buy and sell combination so the small one-day and two-day returns are averaged with the larger multiple-day returns.

The percent returns chart shows the unprofitable buy and sell combinations in red and the profitable ones in green. The unprofitable investments span almost all buy and sell dates because the stock was on the downside for the year.

The largest area of profitable buy and sell combinations, located in the middle of the chart, resulted from buying and selling on the April through June upside. The scattered smaller green areas resulted from buying of dips in price and then selling quickly as prices went up.

The winners and losers map shows the unprofitable buy and sell combinations in red and the profitable ones in green. The map shows no relief because it looks straight down at the percent returns chart.