Wall Street Rumors: Worth A Listen?

You can get stock market rumors delivered to you via text, e-mail or instant message. They are quick and convenient, but are they worth entertaining?

There are far too many rumors to keep track of but below, you will find some recent rumors and the stock’s post-rumor performance. Rumors provided by StockRumors.com.

Photo by Redvers, courtesy of flickr

MGM Mirage (Ticker: MGM) – 6/25/09 @ 10:32 AM – Rumors of an acquisition by GS Capital Partners, Apex Partners, and Providence Eq Partners. Shares of MGM were trading at $6.81 when the news broke.

Since the announcement, the stock has traded as low as $5.34 (7/8/09) and as high as $8.03 (7/24/09) per share.

TiVo (Ticker: TIVO) – 6/22/09 @ 2:15 PM – Rumor: Positives on TiVo and TiVo is coming to Time Warner. Shares were trading at $10.59 when the rumors began.

Post-rumor, the stock has traded as low as $8.50 (7/8/09) and as high as $11.08 (6/26/09). Shares closed yesterday at $10.37, slightly lower than the pre-rumor price.

Legg Mason (Ticker: LM) – 6/24/09 @ 1:52 PM – Rumors emerged that Nelson Peltz secretly acquired between 12 and 13 million shares of Legg Mason as part of a “vicious activist campaign” against Legg Mason.

Shares were trading at $23.16 when the rumor broke. Since the news, the stock has traded between $22.06 (7/8/09) and $28.08 on (7/23/09). Shares closed yesterday at $27.13.

I selected these three stocks randomly from StockRumors.com, but all three reached their lowest price on 7/8/09. Whatever happened that day might be worth paying attention to!

Whether the rumors are worth it depends on your investing goals and your investment horizon. If you are in it for the long haul, then you should leave the rumors alone.