Golden Geese
Categories: Company Management
Operationally stable, financially profitable companies with lots of capital gains and strong stock performance are considered “golden geese;” when they pay dividends, those payments are known as “golden eggs.”
The goose analogy works because, first of all, geese don’t just produce one egg. They produce multiple eggs over time, which means that, as a golden goose shareholder, we get to reap eggy dividend rewards over and over again. It also works because, if our goose is taken care of, it can continue to grow and get stronger, which means even better stock performance (and even bigger eggs).
Basically, golden geese are assets that continue to produce wealth time after time. Analysts differ on whether investors should ever sell golden goose stocks. Most say that if we must sell one goose, we should replace it with another one. The argument is that golden geese will continue to earn money for us as long as we hold shares. So even if we need money now, and selling that goose is a quick way to get it, we might end up kicking ourselves later on when we realize how much money we could’ve made in the long term if we’d held onto it.