One often hears that you shouldn’t fall too much in love with a stock, but let’s be honest, we all have that one diamond in our portfolio that we always proudly admire.
What is your favorite stock, what kind of history do you have with it, and have there been any bumps in the road or has it been smooth sailing the whole time?
I’ll start later when I can get to a computer to write.
Incap, of course. The first offering I participated in. Incredible price increase and still good prospects. A cheerful and convincing CEO. Interviews with Korkeakoski and the CEO. Good vibes on the company’s Facebook pages. A permanently green line shining in the portfolio amidst all the dismal red.
The biggest and most beautiful in my own portfolio is my favorite stock. Our relationship has been influenced by the fact that the stock was a despised ugly duckling when I really started adding to the company last summer, so I can say that “I fell in love with a loser.”
I have researched this particular stock possibly more than all my other stocks combined. Usually, I make 1-4 purchases of a company’s stock at most, with the median being 1 or 2 purchases. I bought my favorite stock over ten times
I recall three different times I had decided I wouldn’t add anymore, but the situation and valuation levels made me buy again and again.
My favorite stock has dropped by a maximum of one year’s gross salary in a single day (on the July earnings day), but that didn’t change our relationship in any way, even though I ended up in the relationship for financial reasons.
My favorite has more than doubled from my average price, but our relationship will likely last a long time, at least until the (possible) spin-off of the two-part company. We’ll see if there’s any heartbreak in the future
Sampo - a messianic wonder machine. 
Talenom is the best stock (it has been, at least, and is still part of my portfolio).
eQ Plc has absolutely always been my favorite stock on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, although incredibly tragically it has never made it into my portfolio.
I ended up choosing the company as my stockbroker in the 2000s because its user interface was ahead of its time and clearly the best in Finland. Unfortunately, at some point, they ended up being owned by Icelandic raiders.
The Icelanders’ shenanigans, of course, eventually failed to withstand economic realities, so in one of the biggest injustices in Finnish stock market history, eQ Bank was then sold to Nordnet, along with its Finnish customers (including myself).
Fortunately, the Icelanders’ crazy leverage games couldn’t completely destroy the company, even though the most interesting part was sold, and the asset management business was successfully merged back onto the stock exchange through Amanda Capital.
Of course, I didn’t buy the company because they no longer had brokerage operations, and stock investing was extremely hated at the time, and it would also seem crazy to own an asset manager if/when the Eurozone falls apart. The share price was just under two euros.
Sometime in 2013, it became clear that the Eurozone would survive, but stocks and investing were still largely shunned by the public, and the share price had already surged well over two euros, so it was wiser to wait for a dip to get in with a good margin of safety.
In 2015, the share price had already surged over five euros, which was starting to be seen as a deserved rise as it became clear to the market that eQ is one of Finland’s best asset management companies. But who would be crazy enough to buy this at five euros?!?
In 2017, serious threats began to emerge in the global economy as Donald Trump became president and the Fed raised interest rates in a truly frightening way. Rate hikes are always followed by a big crash, so now would be an especially bad time to buy a foolish eight-euro eQ stock!
In 2019, I almost lost my mind, as buying a cyclical stock after a long boom simply cannot be anything other than an investment mistake, and the stock market had to crash soon, right? Didn’t it? The bubble of everything and endless quantitative easing would surely have to come to an end someday, at which point cyclical asset managers like the twelve-euro bubble-eQ would inevitably fall back to buying prices as stock prices correct sharply towards the historical Shiller P/E!
In March 2020, eQ stock dipped back to eleven euros. A ridiculously high price for a cyclical asset manager, while a pandemic destroys the global economy.
In 2021, eQ’s stock broke thirty euros for the first time. THIRTY EUROS! Almost tripled from the pandemic lows, and the market capitalization exceeded one billion euros for the first time. I prayed that this stock would someday fall back to twenty euros so I could get on board with one of Finland’s best stocks, which will clearly win the Finnish asset management sector and generate incredible returns for its owners year after year.
In 2022, eQ’s price returned to around twenty euros. However, I did not buy the stock, because a big recession is coming soon, and central banks will start raising interest rates and sucking money out of the markets, so why on earth buy a cyclical asset management company in such a market? For now, I will wait for the next economic Armageddon, and by then, when other investors get their just deserts, depending on whether leverage has been used or not, I promise to fill my portfolio with as much eQ goodness as it can hold 
HARVIA!!! I was trading this frantically between €30-€60, and on the way down, between €60-€45, until I burned my fingers and started thinking about the stock a bit more critically. Luckily, I survived the adventures with an estimated loss of a few tens of euros, and I didn’t lose much capital. My initial thought was that the sauna megatrend doesn’t depend on corona, but is an unstoppable and powerful trend. I laughed at Oksaharju’s and others’ explanations that the strong growth would only be a result of inflated household savings and a renovation boom. As the stock started to fall from its ATH price of over 60 euros, I began to question my feelings towards the stock and critically pondered and assessed the risks. At that time, I estimated that the stock had more downside than upside precisely because of stretched valuation multiples and the potential slowdown in growth.
The lesson from this was that you can’t pay just anything for even a quality company, and the stock has already come down almost 70% from its peaks.
Bufab, absolutely. Distributing nuts and bolts is a simple and understandable business, yet it’s incredibly difficult for competitors. The competitive advantage improves year by year.
No way 
Sampo dropping 50% during the corona dip completely pulled the rug out from under any trust 
Digia was one of the first stocks I bought. The main reason for choosing Digia for my portfolio was that I knew it was involved in the income register (KATRE). I thought that project would be a big money-maker for Digia for a long time. So, I joined with light reasoning.
Over time, I got to know the company better through Inderes’ materials and by researching the company a lot. I’ve seen Digia as a safe cornerstone for my portfolio; it might not be the sexiest company, but it’s a quality company that, in my opinion, doesn’t have particularly major weaknesses.
I highly value Digia’s way of communicating things; for example, I think Timo Levoranta tells things as they are, unembellished and direct. This company’s communication is open and clear, so you don’t have to wonder what they really mean.
Digia seems to believe in long-term and patient work, especially on the development side; things are genuinely looked at with a long-term perspective, or at least that’s the impression I’ve gained from my research.
The industry my favorite company operates in is growing rapidly, and I see that Digia, through diligent and long-term development and investment work, will remain competitive. This long-term approach is supported by various continuous services and scalable business, and in addition, I believe the fairly successful and well-chosen acquisitions create good future prospects.
From what I understand, Digia has generally served its customers well, which brings certainty to projects and customer retention. In my opinion, various smaller and larger news items from recent times support these impressions.
There’s nothing particularly extraordinary about Digia, and it’s hard to see it as a particularly fast-growing company, but the overall picture is solid, and there’s still clear potential, for example, in terms of improving profitability, etc. It’s a quality and well-managed company that I believe will grow well and with quality in the future, and hopefully will also distinguish itself in the field of internationalization.
EDIT: The journey with this company has been good, no big surprises up or down, but we’ve had a pretty good journey together, and I’ve even received some of those infamous dividends from it. 
P.S. My actual favorite company is Hyzon, even though I don’t own it anymore. 
Alphabet
With over 90% share of the search engine market, it’s not a monopoly in dictatorial countries. I’ve been following brand house analysts, and my understanding is that the market is still in its early stages. Advertisers’ costs are decreasing, and revenues are improving. A big risk is antitrust issues, but that’s part of the license to print money.
My pony picks (ponarina) are YouTube, Waymo, and Cloud. Alphabet has just properly started to be a cannibal, and I believe the number of shares will decrease significantly.
My relationship with Fortum began around 2010, and I was satisfied with our calm and pragmatic relationship for a long time, but lately the atmosphere has become downright toxic. It feels like I don’t know my old partner at all anymore. We are still nominally together because of our tax dependents, but I find myself spending more and more time on Tinder.
My portfolio’s diamond is Shell from the Amsterdam stock exchange. I bought it, if I recall correctly, in late 2020 for around €10. Now the price is €25 and some tens of cents more.
Dividends have also accumulated really nicely, and it feels like they’re raining down quite often
Thanks to Shell (and diamond #2 Betsson), my portfolio is looking quite green.
eQ managed to get a great response from Eka. I’ve been on board since nine euros, which is about three years. The stock, or the company, is one of the highest quality on the Finnish stock exchange, and for some incomprehensible reason, it doesn’t cause any chatter on this forum (either). After each earnings report, a few people always come to admire the new record result, and then it’s quiet for months. Yeah, it’s an unsexy industry, but that’s probably just an advantage when looking for good returns. On top of that, the generous dividend distribution and probable future corporate restructuring will keep me on board with a large weighting.
eQ - My favorite stock.
S&P500 index ETF, of course.
Through love and adversity, until death do us part
Plug Power. A quality company in a very fast-growing and important sector.
Andy seems like a nice old geezer, but he’s a damn good businessman. For example, he chooses his partners very carefully and has said so directly. Very rarely do negative things about the company come to light. Except, of course, during earnings season 
But that’s what investing in growth companies is all about.
Handelsbanken was already familiar to me due to the praises in Mika Hyttinen’s books and Anders Oldenburg’s blog. In early autumn 2020, I read news that the bank intended to significantly cut its branch network in Sweden. This news, which was fundamentally positive from a shareholder’s perspective, prompted me to examine the stock’s valuation at that time. I bought shares in two tranches before the rally in value stocks began in early November. What appeals to me about the stock is its track record, Sweden’s more diverse and stronger economy compared to Finland, and the fundamental role of banks in maintaining the economic system. When it comes to this stock, the expected return should be compared to the risk. This means that I will not easily trade this stock, which has been on the Swedish stock exchange for the longest time, for a new horse; instead, due to the assumed low risk, I can use carefully considered leverage.
Sometimes it feels like nothing but if I emptied my bag and left one there, it would be Plug Power 
For me, this is Fiskars. One of my first direct stock investments in the aftermath of COVID. The products are tangible, high-quality, and often beautiful. Both the products and the stock evoke a warm and comfortable feeling. Harvia could be a similar second choice, but Fiskars, as a quieter alternative, wins my sympathy.
Fiskars also pays dividends consistently.
My favorite is Nokian Tyres (Nokian Renkaat). The reason is that it was one of my first stocks and, at one point, clearly my largest position. I bought it in the summer of 2006 on a computer at the Santahamina military canteen for about 11 euros per share. The shares are still in my portfolio, and in hindsight, it’s easy to say that it would have been a good idea to sell them when they were around 40 euros.
