Happened to lay my hands on the audio file of this book and managed to finish the audio / book in 2 days flat. Its obviously an advantage getting the audio of books so that i can just transfer the files to my mp3 player and listen to them on my travels to work. Holding a book in hand; trying to read them during rush hour is a chore and these audio books are indeed coming handy for me.
Philip Arthur Fisher was an American stock investor who wrote this book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits way back in 1958. Just like Benjamin Graham’s bible of investing, The Intelligent Investor, this book is also considered to be a must read for anyone planning to invest in the stock markets.
Philip Fisher is considered a pioneer in the field of growth investing. Morningstar has called him “one of the great investors of all time”. In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher said that the best time to sell a stock was “almost never”. His most famous investment was his purchase of Motorola, a company he bought in 1955 when it was a radio manufacturer and held until his death in 2004.
Perhaps the best-known of Fisher’s followers is Warren Buffett who has said on some occasions that “he is 85% Graham and 15% Fisher”. (source: Wikipedia)
Fisher goes on to give a lot of Do’s and Don’ts for investors. A few of the Do’nts include
- Dont buy into promotional companies
- Dont ignore a good stock just because its traded over the counter
- Dont buy a stock just because you like the tone of its annual report
- Dont overstress diversification
- Dont be afraid to buying on a war scare
- Dont fail to consider time as well as price in buying a true growth stock
Fisher also goes about sharing his ideas of how he goes about finding a growth stock. Fisher talks about using the Scuttlebutt method to investing. This means that the relative points of strength and weakness of each company in an industry can be obtained from a representative cross-section of the opinions of those who in one way or another are concerned with any particular company. Also he talks about talking to the vendors, customers etc to find the correct information needed for your investment in that particular company.
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits
Author – Philip Arthur Fisher
Pages – 271
Publisher – John Wiley & Sons
Above picture courtesy: Nickgogerty
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Peter Lynch is a Wall Street investor and a research consultant at Fidelity Investments, one of the biggest fund companies in the world. Unlike the Warren Buffett model of investing where diversification is not the norm and the investments are concentrated around a few good solid companies, Peter Lynch’s investment principle is to invest in what you know and to keep the basket of companies diverse and large.
He’s the one who coined the word, “ten bagger” which means an investment that is worth ten times its original buying price. Lynch goes on to give pointers on how to pick up the ten baggers, the kind of companies to avoid, how to design a portfolio, the silliest things people say about stocks.
This book is one of the best books to read before entering the market. If you are someone who would like to enter the stock markets and get into equity, mutual funds etc, this book is a must read.
Read more about Peter Lynch at his Wikipedia page here
A list of all the books that i have read till now and am currently reading are on the right side of this blog. Though not a prolific reader, this year i have been reading quite a few books. With still 4 months to go for the end of the year, i hope to have read at least 12 books this year; which would mean a book every month. Hmmm….not bad 
One Up On Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market
Author – Peter Lynch
Pages – 304
Publisher – Simon & Schuster
Above picture courtesy: Bfanderson
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Continuing from the previous post about the equity portfolio, this is the mutual funds portfolio. Over a period of time, Franklin Templeton Prima fund went from being a 5 star to a 2 star fund. It has underperformed the peers in the market, but compared to the S&P CNX Nifty over a period of time, it has always shown better results.
Reliance Growth has been one of the best funds ever if you want a pure diversified equity player. HDFC prudence is a good balanced fund. It invests a good chunk of the money in debt as well as keeps a bit of the money aside as cash. So, even thought it might not give you stupendous returns like a pure equity fund can, this one gives stability to your portfolio.
PS: This post has been tagged in the Investments page.
All above information taken from: Valueresearchonline
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Have been thinking for some time to get certified in the capital / financial markets. Not only will this be helpful in my quest to change my career towards the finance line. But also, to have a better understanding of the market and its behaviour.
After some research and querying some friends, i came to know about the National Stock Exchange’s Certification in Financial Markets (NCFM) exams. Over the next few months/years, i plan to get certified in a few areas like
Financial Market
Capital Market (Dealers module)
Derivatives Market (Dealers module)
AMFI – Mutual Fund (Basic module)
AMFI – Mutual Fund (Advisors module)
Since am a novice in this field, am sure to find the going tough. Any help in the form of advise, tips, personal experiences with the exam would be much appreciated.
Above picture courtesy: Wikipedia
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Reliance Power’s IPO, SBI’s right’s issue (approx USD 4 billion), BSNL to sell 10% of its stake for USD 10 billion. For the equity market, 2008 is going to be another bumper year. How many will make money or how many will miss out on the bull run is something that time will tell.
But, as of now, i have no interest in applying for the Reliance Power’s IPO. Am staying away. Iam more interested in a proven performer like BSNL or SBI than the hot air spewed by Anil Ambani.
Indian equity funds stormed into the Lipper list of the world’s 100 top-performing stock funds of 2007, with 40 funds making a mark compared with none a year ago, as Indian shares turned in their best performance in four years. A power sector fund from the country’s largest asset manager Reliance Capital led the Indian top performers in 2007.
The top-100 list, carved out from a set of 24,887 funds tracked by global fund intelligence firm Lipper also includes five India-dedicated offshore funds. Over the 10-year period ended December 2007, local funds are clear winners with seven of the world’s top 10 funds from India.
“Indian funds had a revelling year, with the broader markets faring well and the mid- and small-cap segments outperforming their bluechip peers by a significant margin in 2007,” Dhruva Raj Chatterji, research analyst with Lipper in India, said.
Full article here.
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Philip Arthur Fisher was an American stock investor who wrote this book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits way back in 1958. Just like Benjamin Graham’s bible of investing, The Intelligent Investor, this book is also considered to be a must read for anyone planning to invest in the stock markets.
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