Investors need only look at the outstanding share price performance over the last 16 years of Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC) to immediately understand the importance of the saying – "Let your winners run!"
Ramsay's share price has gained a phenomenal 4,244% in just over 16 years and that's excluding dividends!
While there would have been plenty of occasions over the years to 'take a profit', comprehending the long runway of growth ahead of the firm would have left you well advised to stick with your winner and let the profits run.
Interestingly, the gains from Ramsay are even greater than the gains from leading global ecommerce and payments company eBay Inc, which stand at 3,069% over 16-and-a-half years.
Hypothetical questions can be very difficult to answer but if it was 1999 today do you think you would have comprehended the future growth profile of Ramsay or eBay?
Like I said it's not an easy question to answer however the business model of eBay which garners massive economies of scale and positive feedback loops arguably makes it the "type" of business more probable to produce 3,000% plus returns.
The business model of software and technology companies can certainly be appealing and this is one of the reasons many investors are drawn to the sector.
It is of course impossible to say whether any of the following 3 companies could one day rival eBay in terms of size or stature but they all have potential and could be at least worthy of a place on your watch list…
Leading fund manager Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT) has been increasing its stake in iSelect Ltd (ASX: ISU) which has carved out an impressive niche in the provision of health insurance comparisons while also growing its market share of other key service comparisons such as mortgages and utilities.
Also operating in the online retailing space is NZ-based Trade Me Group Ltd (ASX: TME) which is similar to eBay Inc due to its operation of New Zealand's leading online marketplace.
Of course eBay is more than just an online marketplace thanks to its ownership of leading online payment platform PayPal. In this respect Mint Payments Ltd (ASX: MNW) is an interesting stock to watch.
Mint operates a mobile payment solution and last week announced that it had launched an online payments offering which completes the group's payment offerings so that it can offer the full suite of payment solutions from face-to-face (such as EFTPOS) through to eCommerce and bill payments.
