Status Updates From Common Stocks and Uncommon ...

Ch. 3, point 2: essentially recommending to determine if the company’s management focussed on continuous development and improvement. New products/services on top of improving existing ones in order to further grow sales.

Ch. 3, the 15 things to look for. First thing Fisher lists is “products or services with sufficient market potential to make possible a sizable increase in sales for at least several years.” Discussion is the first mention of “growth stocks.” The focus here is strong and long term sales growth. He lists several stock/industry examples from the time (Alcoa, Motorola) and emphasizes the importance of mgmt.

Ch. 2 what “Scuttlebutt” can do. Scuttlebuttin is a great SRV track, and in this context is 3 or so pages on basically a precursor of the mosaic theory espoused by the CFA program. This chapter is essentially a discussion of the value of qualitative analysis, specifically talking to people tied to a company. Customers, competitors, suppliers, even former employees, to build an idea of the company.

Skimmed the intro, which are by the author’s son. Just meh. Chapter 1 of the first park of this book (the original Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits) however is surprisingly prescient to read sitting here in 2021. From the discussion of how changes in US would (and have) impacted market cycles to the foreshadowing of how computers would impact the world, to the discussion of bonds vs stocks, very interesting.