Time to Watch by the Sidelines?

This will be a really short post.

When I started investing, I frequently look at stocks trading at 52-weeks low. I have been doing it frequently from BarChart 52-weeks low, looking at its balance sheet and thinking if it makes a good turnaround bet. I had a few success in spotting these stocks but unfortunately, I wasn't confident in my abilities then, and watch stocks like Spartan Motors (SPAR), and MidSouth Bancorp go as high as 100%.

Such a practice can be pretty robotic, getting the list, and looking at its balance sheet quickly. It has been a while since I did that though, and I was very surprised today.

And today, there is really only a handful of stocks, regardless of market capitalization, that is trading at 52 weeks' low, and that smells like the market could possibly be overly optimistic.

I don't know about you, but I very much prefer to stand by the side of the court and wait.
While it is usually better to be vested most of the time, I think it might be prudent to lay hands off the American market. I still vested in SGX, in stocks that I find that are cheap.

Hopefully it will pay off in the long term.