what is a hold 
hold is an analyst s recommendation to neither buy nor sell a security a company with a hold recommendation generally is expected to perform with the market or at the same pace as comparable companies this rating is better than sell but worse than buy meaning that investors with existing long positions shouldn t sell but investors without a position shouldn t purchase either understanding hold recommendationsa hold recommendation can be thought of as hold what you have and hold off buying more of that particular stock a hold is one of the three basic investment recommendation given by financial institutions and professional financial analysts all stocks either have a buy sell or hold recommendation often a single stock may have two or more conflicting recommendations given by different financial institutions in these cases it s important for investors to look at the advice provided and decide which is more accurate for their specific situations if an investor decides that a stock is a hold she has two potential options if the investor already owns shares of the stock she should hold onto the equity and see how it performs over the short medium and long term if an investor does not own any shares of the equity she should wait to purchase until the future prospects become more clear a hold versus a buy and hold strategya hold is an analyst s call on a stock and distinct from the buy and hold strategy where an equity security is purchased with the understanding that it will be held for the long term the definition of long term depends on the specific investor but most people entering into a buy and hold strategy will own a stock for five years or more this type of strategy forces investors to stick with investments through market retractions and recessions so they don t sell during a dip instead they ride out volatility and sell at a peak benefits of holding a stock