when an investor holds onto a stock she is effectively initiating a long position in an equity investors who hold a stock for a long period of time can benefit from quarterly dividends and potential price appreciation over time even if a stock is given a hold recommendation and remains flat if it pays a dividend the investor can still profit a hold position is not a bad one and even stocks that are labelled as a hold can appreciate in price over time they are just not seen as likely to outperform other comparable stocks 
risks of holdinghowever there are also risks of holding a stock all long positions are susceptible to market volatility and potential price declines sometimes investors predict a microeconomic or macroeconomic downturn but hold onto a stock because it was recommended by a leading financial institution if the price of the stock subsequently declines with the market the investor loses money that said the paper losses in a broad market dip only matter if the investor needs the money in the near term if however the fundamentals of a stock have degraded then the investor must reassess whether to continue to hold or not 