CYH
Community Health Systems, Inc.
stock NYSE

Great topic -- FWIW, I think recording your losses (and taking the time to track why you bought and then ruminating on why you got it so wrong) is far more valuable than celebrating your wins.
Looking my tracking sheet -- these were my *worst* picks.
\- *A small offshore driller named Diamond* at the height of the Covid plunge. I don't even have the ticker symbol anymore as they did actually did get delisted, went through bankruptcy, and totally poof. Dumb call by me -- I'm normally not for micro (or even small) caps, but as every company anywhere near oil was in turmoil at the time, I just thought their financials were strong enough to weather the storm and tossed a few hundred bucks at what I thought was a bargain... and then lost all of that few hundred bucks. Fun fact -- same day I bought it, I also made my first NVDA buy so the day wasn't a total failure :-). Now, if only I had instead just used that $150 to buy more NVDA instead :-). **Lesson learned**: Never gamble on a falling knife you think you can catch.
\- *ACB (Aurora Cannabis)* \- mentioned below, but boy were cannabis stocks a universally bad play. Got talked into the upside by a (usually sharp! And still a friend) friend. **Lesson learned**: Do more of your own due diligence and never put too much faith in any single opinion.
\- *BB (Blackberry*) - At the height of the stupid /wsb nonsense, when GME was being ridiculously overvalued - Blackberry got tagged as another stupid memestock. Now, ordinarily I loathe such nonsense and never touch it, but what can I say... I thought to myself "Well, BB *does* still actually have some fairly valuable IP/patents. It's different than a failing used game store in a world that is moving towards digital distribution. Maybe...". Ahhh... nope. **Lesson learned**: YOU WERE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! AVOID SUCH STUPID CRAP. I'm a long-term buy-and-hold guy, not a meme chaser or quant focused day trader. Don't do stupid things like that again.
\- *CYH (Community Health Systems -* Bought at 13 in 2021. I liked the P/E ratio, thought the financials looked solid, and they operate in a fast-growing region. They *were* shedding some facilities at the time, but it looked like smart belt-tightening and increased focus to me. Nope. Stuck it out for about a year and a half before bailing. **Lesson learned**: Bad analysis, healthcare stocks are hard, and actually "ESG" scoring *does* have some real value to pure financial analysis. What I missed/ignored? Big shareholder is near majority owner and feathers the company with (bad at their job) cronies (bad corporate governance). And social scoring? Well - lots of pending litigation/allegations that weren't showing up in the quarterlies.

Great topic -- FWIW, I think recording your losses (and taking the time to track why you bought and then ruminating on why you got it so wrong) is far more valuable than celebrating your wins.
Looking my tracking sheet -- these were my *worst* picks.
\- *A small offshore driller named Diamond* at the height of the Covid plunge. I don't even have the ticker symbol anymore as they did actually did get delisted, went through bankruptcy, and totally poof. Dumb call by me -- I'm normally not for micro (or even small) caps, but as every company anywhere near oil was in turmoil at the time, I just thought their financials were strong enough to weather the storm and tossed a few hundred bucks at what I thought was a bargain... and then lost all of that few hundred bucks. Fun fact -- same day I bought it, I also made my first NVDA buy so the day wasn't a total failure :-). Now, if only I had instead just used that $150 to buy more NVDA instead :-). **Lesson learned**: Never gamble on a falling knife you think you can catch.
\- *ACB (Aurora Cannabis)* \- mentioned below, but boy were cannabis stocks a universally bad play. Got talked into the upside by a (usually sharp! And still a friend) friend. **Lesson learned**: Do more of your own due diligence and never put too much faith in any single opinion.
\- *BB (Blackberry*) - At the height of the stupid /wsb nonsense, when GME was being ridiculously overvalued - Blackberry got tagged as another stupid memestock. Now, ordinarily I loathe such nonsense and never touch it, but what can I say... I thought to myself "Well, BB *does* still actually have some fairly valuable IP/patents. It's different than a failing used game store in a world that is moving towards digital distribution. Maybe...". Ahhh... nope. **Lesson learned**: YOU WERE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! AVOID SUCH STUPID CRAP. I'm a long-term buy-and-hold guy, not a meme chaser or quant focused day trader. Don't do stupid things like that again.
\- *CYH (Community Health Systems -* Bought at 13 in 2021. I liked the P/E ratio, thought the financials looked solid, and they operate in a fast-growing region. They *were* shedding some facilities at the time, but it looked like smart belt-tightening and increased focus to me. Nope. Stuck it out for about a year and a half before bailing. **Lesson learned**: Bad analysis, healthcare stocks are hard, and actually "ESG" scoring *does* have some real value to pure financial analysis. What I missed/ignored? Big shareholder is near majority owner and feathers the company with (bad at their job) cronies (bad corporate governance). And social scoring? Well - lots of pending litigation/allegations that weren't showing up in the quarterlies.