Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

PHILIP A. FISHER began his career as a securities analyst in 1928, and founded Fisher & Company, an investment counseling business, in 1931. He is known as one of the pioneers of modern investment theory.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Hailed by Forbes magazine as "one of the seminal figures of modern investment thinking," and a "giant" by investment wizard Warren Buffett, Philip Fisher is one of the most influential investors of all time. Admired for his investment success, he is even more widely respected for his sound investment philosophies—philosophies that have withstood the test of almost forty years and that are regarded as gospel by the investors of today.

These principles and theories were introduced by Fisher in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Initially published in 1958, it is today considered an invaluable reference for investment success. Now, for the first time, a new, single edition brings this timeless classic together with the investment wisdom and insight offered in Fisher's other acclaimed writings—Conservative Investors Sleep Well and Developing an Investment Philosophy.

As the first to consider a stock's worth in terms of potential growth rather than price trends and absolute value, Fisher laid the foundation for many of today's popular investment beliefs. His principles of selecting long-term growth stocks for their emerging value over short-term trades for initial profit continue to be studied and applied by today's top finance professionals.

In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher shares his philosophy, offering valuable insights into the most fundamental and important aspects of buying and selling stock. Here are solid guidelines on when and what to buy, sound reasons for selling common stock, as well as critical information on profit margins and dividends. There is also Fisher's famous list of Top-Ten "Don'ts" for investors, complete with warnings against buying into promotional companies, over-stressing diversification, following the crowd, and buying stock just for the "tone" of its annual report.

As an ideal complement to Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Conservative Investors Sleep Well and Developing an Investment Philosophy explore, respectively, the myriad intricacies of conservative investments and the genesis of Fisher's unique philosophy. Both selections offer further insight into the wisdom of this great investor. As indispensable today as when they were first published, these classic writings provide keys to investment success which every investor will relish.

"You will find lots of jewels in these pages that may do as much for you as they have for me."—from the Introduction by Kenneth L. Fisher Forbes columnist

Widely respected and admired, Philip Fisher is among the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, introduced almost forty years ago, are not only studied and applied by today's finance professionals, but are also regarded by many as gospel. He recorded these philosophies in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, a book considered invaluable reading when it was first published in 1958, and a must-read today.

Acclaim for Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

"I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits...When I met him, I was impressed by the man as by his ideas. A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil's techniques...enable one to make intelligent investment commitments."—Warren Buffett

"Little known to the public, rarely interviewed and accepting few clients, Philip Fisher is nevertheless read and studied by most thoughtful investment professionals . . . everyone will profit from pondering—as Warren Buffett has done—the investment principles Fisher espouses."—James W. Michaels Editor, Forbes

"My own copy [of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits] has underlinings and marginal thoughts throughout."—John Train Author of Dance of the Money Bees

Aus dem Klappentext

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings by Philip A. Fisher Hailed by Forbes magazine as "one of the seminal figures of modern investment thinking," and a "giant" by investment wizard Warren Buffett, Philip Fisher is one of the most influential investors of all time. Admired for his investment success, he is even more widely respected for his sound investment philosophies?philosophies that have withstood the test of almost forty years and that are regarded as gospel by the investors of today. These principles and theories were introduced by Fisher in Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Initially published in 1958, it is today considered an invaluable reference for investment success. Now, for the first time, a new, single edition brings this timeless classic together with the investment wisdom and insight offered in Fisher?s other acclaimed writings?Conservative Investors Sleep Well and Developing an Investment Philosophy. As the first to consider a stock?s worth in terms of potential growth rather than price trends and absolute value, Fisher laid the foundation for many of today?s popular investment beliefs. His principles of selecting long-term growth stocks for their emerging value over short-term trades for initial profit continue to be studied and applied by today?s top finance professionals. In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher shares his philosophy, offering valuable insights into the most fundamental and important aspects of buying and selling stock. Here are solid guidelines on when and what to buy, sound reasons for selling common stock, as well as critical information on profit margins and dividends. There is also Fisher?s famous list of Top-Ten "Don?ts" for investors, complete with warnings against buying into promotional companies, over-stressing diversification, following the crowd, and buying stock just for the "tone" of its annual report. As an ideal complement to Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Conservative Investors Sleep Well and Developing an Investment Philosophy explore, respectively, the myriad intricacies of conservative investments and the genesis of Fisher?s unique philosophy. Both selections offer further insight into the wisdom of this great investor. As indispensable today as when they were first published, these classic writings provide keys to investment success which every investor will relish.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

You have some money in the bank. You decide you would like to buy some common stock. You may have reached this decision because you desire to have more income than you would if you used these funds in other ways. You may have reached it because you want to grow with America. Possibly you think of earlier years when Henry Ford was starting the Ford Motor Company or Andrew Mellon was building up the Aluminum Company of America, and you wonder if you could not discover some young enterprise which might today lay the groundwork for a great fortune for you, too. Just as likely you are more afraid than hopeful and want to have a nest egg against a rainy day. Consequently, after hearing more and more about inflation, you desire something which will be safe and yet protected from further shrinkage in the buying power of the dollar.

Probably your real motives are a mixture of a number of these things, influenced somewhat by knowing a neighbor who has made some money in the market and, possibly, by receiving a pamphlet in the mail explaining just why Midwestern Pumpernickel is now a bargain. A single basic motive lies behind all this, however. For one reason or another, through one method or another, you buy common stocks in order to make money.

Therefore, it seems logical that before even thinking of buying any common stock the first step is to see how money has been most successfully made in the past. Even a casual glance at American stock market history will show that two very different methods have been used to amass spectacular fortunes. In the nineteenth century and in the early part of the twentieth century, a number of big fortunes and many small ones were made largely by betting on the business cycle. In a period when an unstable banking system caused recurring boom and bust, buying stocks in bad times and selling them in good had strong elements of value. This was particularly true for those with good financial connections who might have some advance information about when the banking system was becoming a bit strained.

But perhaps the most significant fact to be realized is that even in the stock market era which started to end with the coming of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 and became history with the passage of the securities and exchange legislation in the early days of the Roosevelt administration, those who used a different method made far more money and took far less risk. Even in those earlier times, finding the really outstanding companies and staying with them through all the fluctuations of a gyrating market proved far more profitable to far more people than did the more colorful practice of trying to buy them cheap and sell them dear.

If this statement appears surprising, further amplification of it may prove even more so. It may also provide the key to open the first door to successful investing. Listed on the various stock exchanges of the nation today are not just a few, but scores of companies in which it would have been possible to invest, say, $10,000 somewhere between twenty-five and fifty years ago and today have this purchase represent anywhere from $250,000 to several times this amount. In other words, within the lifetime of most investors and within the period in which their parents could have acted for nearly all of them, there were available scores of opportunities to lay the groundwork for substantial fortunes for oneself or one's children. These opportunities did not require purchasing on a particular day at the bottom of a great panic. The shares of these companies were available year after year at prices that were to make this kind of profit possible. What was required was the ability to distinguish these relatively few companies with outstanding investment possibilities from the much greater number whose future would vary all the way from the moderately successful to the complete failure.

Are there opportunities existing today to make investments that in the years ahead will yield corresponding percentage gains? The answer to this question deserves rather detailed attention. If it be in the affirmative, the path for making real profits through common stock investment starts to become clear. Fortunately, there is strong evidence indicating that the opportunities of today are not only as good as those of the first quarter of this century but are actually much better.

One reason for this is the change that has occurred during this period in the fundamental concept of corporate management and the corresponding changes in handling corporate affairs that this has brought about. A generation ago, heads of a large corporation were usually members of the owning family. They regarded the corporation as a personal possession. The interests of outside stockholders were largely ignored. If any consideration at all was given to the problem of management continuity-that is, of training younger men to step into the shoes of those whose age might make them no longer available-the motive was largely that of taking care of a son or a nephew who would inherit the job. Providing the best available talent to protect the average stockholder's investment was seldom a matter in the forefront of the minds of management. In that age of autocratic personal domination, the tendency of aging management was to resist innovation or improvement and frequently to refuse even to listen to suggestions or criticism. This is a far cry from today's constant competitive search to find ways of doing things better. Today's top corporate management is usually engaged in continuous self-analysis and, in a never-ending search for improvement, frequently even goes outside its own organization by consulting all sorts of experts in its effort to get good advice.

In former days there was always great danger that the most attractive corporation of the moment would not continue to stay ahead in its field or, if it did, that the insiders would grab all the benefits for them-selves. Today, investment dangers like these, while not entirely a thing of the past, are much less likely to prove a hazard for the careful investor.

One facet of the change that has come over corporate management is worthy of attention. This is the growth of the corporate research and engineering laboratory-an occurrence that would hardly have benefited the stockholder if it had not been accompanied by corporate management's learning a parallel technique whereby this research could be made a tool to open up a golden harvest of ever-growing profits to the stockholder. Even today, many investors seem but slightly aware of how fast this development has come, how much further it is almost certainly going, and its impact on basic investment policy.

Actually, even by the late 1920's, only a half dozen or so industrial corporations had significant research organizations. By today's standards, their size was small. It was not until the fear of Adolf Hitler accelerated this type of activity for military purposes that industrial research really started to grow.

It has been growing ever since. A survey made in the spring of 1956, published in Business Week and a number of other McGraw-Hill trade publications, indicated that in 1953 private corporate expenditures for research and development were about $3.7 billion. By 1956 they had grown to $5.5 billion and present corporate planning called for this to be running at the rate of better than...