Under Armour Inc (UA): What Can You Do?

What have I learned?
Over the remainder of my investing life, this one decision will most likely be trumped by others I make along the way. In the meantime, while my overall investing philosophy hasn’t changed, there is one thing that I learned last September: You shouldn’t wait for a better price or valuation before investing in a company.

I bypassed two companies in favor of Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) — Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) — primarily because of their sky-high valuations at the time. LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) has only gone higher since then, and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) would have as well if capital expenditures over the past year hadn’t led to a loss over the past 12 months. Nevertheless, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) is the latest addition to my portfolio, and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) will probably join it sometime over the next few months. Warren Buffett still laments about waiting for a better price when he bought Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), and as much as I’d like to be like Buffett, I think I’ll learn a bit from him instead and not let valuation weigh as heavily on my investment decisions.

The bottom line
I don’t think that investors should second-guess every investment decision, but instead view certain instances as an opportunity to learn and further strengthen an investment thesis. By looking back at my decision from September, my conviction about Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UA) was reinforced, and I was reminded why I chose it in the first place. Though I may have missed out on the great performance of three other companies, I also learned an important lesson about the difference between trading and investing. This lesson should continue to serve me well throughout the rest of my life.

The article A Missed Opportunity Leads to Learning originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Robert Eberhard.

Fool contributor Robert Eberhard owns shares of LinkedIn and Under Armour. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Amazon.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, and Under Armour.

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