For the record, attempting to perfectly time your trades' entries and exits is usually a bad idea. Predicting a stock's (or the broad market's) short-term ebb and flow simply can't be done with any consistency.

As a means of optimizing the balance of risk and reward, though, sometimes there's a case to be made for hurrying up or holding off on a new position.

Google parent (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) is forcing such a choice on interested investors right now. While this Thursday's earnings report in and of itself isn't a reason to buy or sell the stock, if you were mulling a purchase of Alphabet shares anyway, you might want to go ahead and take the plunge now. Here's why.

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Source Fool.com