by Philip A. Fisher
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Product Description
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 financiers and investors, but are also regarded by many as gospel. This book is invaluable reading and has been since it was first published in 1958. The updated paperback retains the investment wisdom of the original edition and includes the perspectives of the author's son Ken Fisher, an investment guru in his own right in an expanded preface and introduction
"I sought out Phil Fisher after reading his Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits...A thorough understanding of the business, obtained by using Phil's techniques...enables one to make intelligent investment commitments."
Warren Buffet
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Absolutely "boring" , 2008-05-12
I bought this book on the belief it could be helpful since it is widely acclaimed, but I discovered that is far from being an "investor's bible"
First. It spend too many pages (about 30 or more) in "Family stories and affairs" that is a pure "torture" and absolutely useless to the reader eager to learn about investement strategies...This could be good maybe on a Fisher Bio book, but not here...I bet that while you are reading this part you will end up doing exactly like me...just skipping many of those pages.
Then...The book lost itself on many "stories" about many companies and the market in general without any useful insights or which analytical/dynamical approaches were followed.
I think it deserves 2 stars for the effort, but nothing more...
To me, was absolutely boring. Maybe I didn't understand the book "purpose", I don't know...But while reading, I started to get bored and skipped many pages...Finally, I just quit reading it before finishing...Got nothing from it.
I don't really know why this book is so acclaimed...And I'm wondering why Buffett says that He's a Fisher follower after reading this book...What He could have learned from this reading?
Maybe to buy and hold a good stock over the years? I believe this kind of investing style requires any book to learn but just patience and following fashions and trends, like those who bought Apple Computer stock when the iPod frenzy was launched; by just being patient any investor would have made 5 times his/her money in these last years, The same is true for Research In Motion and many more companies that are living a great momentum in their products today.
But it's just a matter of following the fashions of "hot" products rather than any sort of stock market skill and this could be really dangerous. Think of investors that today are buying like nuts solar tech stocks.
In my opinion...The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham is the world's best book on investing and a light-year far a better book than this one.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 Boring and uninspiring, 2008-02-29
As a Warren Buffett fan, I finally got to reading this book which is highly recommended by him. Buffett, it is said, is 85% Ben Graham and 15% Philip Fisher - whatever that means. I think that is a nice slogan but Buffett is really 100% Buffett. Unlike Graham and Fisher, Buffett is more than a money manager. Buffett has an incredible ability to buy entire companies with their management included.
I wanted to like Fisher's book, but I found it so boring that I quit after about 100 pages. Normally I don't write reviews for books that I quit (after all it is possible that I did not give the book a fair chance), but I figured if I read more than a third of a book I should be allowed to critique it and hopefully help future readers. I hope this review helps you.
Fisher guides us through 15 points to study before buying stock in a company. His points are certainly valid but they are too academic. Furthermore he does not guide the reader as to how to go about really acquiring the necessary knowledge. He dedicates three pages to "scuttlebutt" which is supposed to help us learn how to go about acquiring the necessary information. His writing style is very dull. I can read a dull book if it teaches me stuff but I did not find this book educational. The book is a better fit for management consultants who have to make fancy presentations to their clients than to investors. Fisher advocates buying growth stocks with certain characteristics, but there is no discussion on the price the investor has to pay for the growth. You can buy an outstanding company but if you overpay for it then it is a lousy investment. If you invested in Microsoft, a well managed company that is almost a monopoly in 1999, your returns would not be that impressive today. In the past 9 years nothing particularly went wrong with Microsoft - it is just that the price was too high in 1999.
If you are still considering purchasing this book, I recommend scanning the chapter on the "15 points". If it clicks then maybe it is the right book for you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 The Bible of Growth Investing, 2008-01-08
This book is a timeless classic on growth investment principles and research. Some reviewers have implied that Fisher's painstaking research is not practical and doesn't apply today. Beware, because if you are like Philip Fisher and you don't like diversification, the lack of research can be deadly to your investments! As he plainly states in the book, if you are not going to do the research, you should still learn what it entails so you can hire someone who can do the proper research for you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent book..., 2007-12-18
This book has much more than the original "common stocks and uncommon profits". It's a nice collection of some of Fisher's greatest works. Just wish there was a hardcover version.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Very good, 2007-11-26
Warren Buffet has often referred to Fisher as his second biggest influence after Graham. Need more be said? You must read this book if you're interested in investing your own money. Fisher has a number of tenets that are well worth learning before you buy a stock. Fisher, like Buffett, was also a buy-and-hold-for-the-long-run investor and made most of his money with only a few stocks. This book is definitely worth the money.
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