HODLing Nike (NKE) with Diamond Hands…

Nike (NKE) once again demonstrated one of the most important tenets of investing for the long term this week – buy the stocks of quality companies and hold on to them. Period.

I first bought Nike on Valentine’s Day 2012 at $26.71. Back then, I had floundered a few times buying moonshot plays and decided that I’d just pick the stocks of quality companies whose stocks I believed would be higher in 30 years when I intended to retire.

That was it. There was nothing special to it. Even at the time, I felt Nike might have had its best days behind it being a company that had been around nearly 50 years at that point.

Boy, was I wrong.

Since then, Nike has demonstrated a consistent ability to destroy the competition, please the customer, and deliver to its shareholders. In the decade that followed, I pulled all of my original investment out of the stock along with $24.71 per share in profits, giving the position a current lifetime gain of 571.95% over my initial investment.

And, no, I don’t have any plans to go anywhere. Long-term investing might not be as exciting as day-trading, but, wow, are the returns there if you choose high-quality companies and, as the kids say, HODL with diamond hands.