This episode covers the first 8 points (out of 15 points) that Philip Fisher checks when buying a company. The content of this episode was from his book (Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits: https://amzn.to/2QRM7mR)
Does the company have products or services with sufficient market potential to make possible a sizable increase in sales for at least several years?
Does the management have a determination to continue to develop products or processes that will still further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?
How effective are the company’s research and development efforts in relation to its size?
Does the company have an above-average sales organization?
Does the company have a worthwhile profit margin?
What is the company doing to maintain or improve profit margins?
Does the company have outstanding labor and personnel relations?
Does the company have outstanding executive relations?
We continue to talk about the investing rules by Peter Lynch and this episode covers the following 8 rules.
Never invest in a company without understanding its finances. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets. Always look at the balance sheet to see if a company is solvent before you risk your money on it.
Avoid hot stocks in hot industries. Great companies in cold, no growth industries are consistent big winners.
With small companies, your better off to wait until they turn a profit before you invest.
If you’re thinking about investing in a troubled industry, buy the companies with staying power. Also, wait for the industry to show signs of revival. Buggy whips and radio tubes were troubled industries that never came back.
If you invest $1,000 in a stock, all you can lose is $1,000, but you stand to gain $10,000 or even $50,000 over time if you’re patient. The average person can concentrate on a few good companies, while the fund manager is forced to diversify. By owning too many stocks, you lose this advantage of concentration. It only takes a handful of big winners to make a lifetime of investing worthwhile.
In every industry and every region of the country, the observant amateur can find great growth companies long before the professionals have discovered them.
A stock-market decline is as routine as a January blizzard in Colorado. If you’re prepared, it can’t hurt you. A decline is a great opportunity to pick up the bargains left behind by investors who are fleeing the storm in panic.
Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach. If you are susceptible to selling everything in a panic, you ought to avoid stocks and stock mutual funds altogether.
This episode covers the first 9 investing rules by Peter Lynch
Investing is fun, exciting, and dangerous if you don’t do any work.
Your investor’s edge is not something you get from Wall Street experts. It’s something you already have. You can outperform the experts if you use your edge by investing in companies or industries you already understand.
Over the past three decades, the stock market has come to be dominated by a herd of professional investors. Contrary to popular belief, this makes it easier for the amateur investor. You can beat the market by ignoring the herd.
Behind every stock is a company, find out what it’s doing.
Often, there is no correlation between the success of a company’s operations and the success of its stock over a few months or even a few years. In the long term, there is a 100 percent correlation between the success of the company and the success of its stock. This disparity is the key to making money; it pays to be patient, and to own successful companies.
You have to know what you own, and why you own it. “This baby is a cinch to go up!” doesn’t count.
Long shots almost always miss the mark.
Owning stocks is like having children – don’t get involved with more than you can handle. The part-time stock picker probably has time to follow 8-12 companies, and to buy and sell shares as conditions warrant. There don’t have to be more than 5 companies in the portfolio at any time.
If you can’t find any companies that you think are attractive, put your money into the bank until you discover some.
In the book, Joel Greenblatt provided the following four tips via a spinoff case study (Strattec Security) on how to identify good spinoff opportunities.
Check if the spin-off is small in size for institutional investors
Check insider ownership
Check pro forma statements and derive an intrinsic value conservatively
Look for hidden information that could dramatically change the intrinsic value
A legendary value investor, Joel Greenblatt, explains why value investors should pay special attention to spin-off stocks. This episode shows you how Joel Greenblatt identified a very attractive investment opportunity from Marriott’s spin-off that happened in the past. The spin-offs that involve the following points would give you a better chance for your investment success.
Institutions don’t want it and their reasons don’t involve the investment merits
Insider wants it
A previously hidden investment opportunity is created or revealed