“Buy low and sell high” is the mantra of anyone speculating in the stock market. It’s common knowledge that, over time, the stock market will provide a positive return on investment at an average of 10% per year. That’s an oversimplification of what to expect for the average investor, but it remains true that a sufficiently diversified portfolio will gain value over time. It may take a very long time, but that’s the difference between investment and short-term speculation.

The only exceptions are stock market collapse and bankruptcy, the latter of which is more a risk for poorly-managed and flash-in-the-pan companies. General Electric (GE) is neither. One of the largest companies in the world, GE has its hand in all sorts of media, finance and technology industries. It also has a history of strong management and inovative business culture. As such, it can reasonably be expected to perform in accordance with the rest of the market: down when the economy is bad, up when the economy is good, and steadily growing over time.

We’re looking for a healthy mixture of investing and speculation here at Paul Stephen Daniels, with a collection of low-priced, volatile stocks balanced out with proven winners. GE fits the latter criterion, and we’re looking to add it to our portfolio in the future. You would do well to do the same.