Philip A. Fisher quotes

Philip A. Fisher was an American stock investor and author, best known for his book "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits". He is considered one of the pioneers of modern investment theory and his principles are followed by many successful investors today. Fisher's investment philosophy focuses on long-term growth potential and investing in quality companies with strong management teams. His approach emphasizes thorough research and a deep understanding of the companies in which one invests. Learn more about Philip A. Fisher's timeless investment strategies and how they can help you achieve financial success.

More money has probably been lost by investors holding a stock they really did not want until they could ‘at least come out even’ than from any other single reason. If to these actual losses are added the profits that might have been made through the proper reinvestment of these funds if such reinvestment had been made when the mistake was first realized, the cost of self-indulgence becomes truly tremendous.

- Philip A. Fisher

Long term investors best stay away from low profit-margin or marginal companies.

- Philip A. Fisher

It is not the profit margins of the past but those of the future that are basically important to the investor.

- Philip A. Fisher

It is my observation that those who sell such stocks to wait for a more suitable time to buy back these same shares seldom attain their objective. They usually wait for a decline to be bigger than it actually turns out to be.

- Philip A. Fisher

Investors have been so oversold on diversification that fear of having too many eggs in one basket has caused them to put far too little into companies they thoroughly know and far too much in others which they know nothing about.

- Philip A. Fisher

In what other line of activity could you put $10,000 in one year and ten years later (with only occasional checking in the meantime to be sure management continues of high caliber) be able to have an asset worth from $40,000 to $150,000?

- Philip A. Fisher

In the stock market a good nervous system is even more important than a good head.

- Philip A. Fisher

In the field of common stocks, a little bit of a great many can never be more than a poor substitute for a few of the outstanding.

- Philip A. Fisher

If you can’t do a thing better than others are doing it, don’t do it at all.

- Philip A. Fisher

If the job has been correctly done when a common stock is purchased, the time to sell it is – almost never.

- Philip A. Fisher

If the growth rate is so good that in another ten years the company might well have quadrupled, is it really of such great concern whether at the moment the stock might or might not be 35% overpriced?

- Philip A. Fisher

I have already made up my mind, don't confuse me with facts.

- Philip A. Fisher

I had made what I believe was one of the more valuable decisions of my business life. This was to confine all efforts solely to making major gains in the long-run.

- Philip A. Fisher

I don’t want a lot of good investments; I want a few outstanding ones.

- Philip A. Fisher

History has shown that in every age and in every field of human knowledge, many of the views which almost everyone accepted as true and never bothered to think about further, were in time proven completely wrong.

- Philip A. Fisher

He should take extreme care to own not the most, but the best.

- Philip A. Fisher

Go to five companies in an industry, ask each of them intelligent questions about the points of strength and weakness of the other four, and nine times out of ten a surprisingly detailed and accurate picture of all five will emerge.

- Philip A. Fisher

Forecasting is like trying to turn lead into gold.

- Philip A. Fisher

For the great majority of transactions, being stubborn about a tiny fractional difference in the price can prove extremely costly.

- Philip A. Fisher

Finding out which physician had lost the smallest percentage of his practice through death would not be a good way to pick a superb doctor.

- Philip A. Fisher

Every significant price move of any individual common stock in relation to stocks as a whole occurs because of a changed appraisal of that stock by the financial community.

- Philip A. Fisher

Don’t overstress diversification.

- Philip A. Fisher

Don’t follow the crowd.

- Philip A. Fisher

Don’t be afraid of buying on a war scare.

- Philip A. Fisher

Don’t assume that the high price at which a stock may be selling in relation to its earnings is necessarily an indication that further growth in those earnings has largely been already discounted in the price?

- Philip A. Fisher

Conservative investors sleep well.

- Philip A. Fisher

Buying a company without having sufficient knowledge of it may be even more dangerous than having inadequate diversification.

- Philip A. Fisher

Be extra careful when buying into companies and industries that are the current darlings of the financial community.

- Philip A. Fisher

A large company’s need to bring in a new chief executive from the outside is a damning sign of something basically wrong with the existing management.

- Philip A. Fisher

Companies that have failed to go uphill have invariably gone downhill.

- Philip A. Fisher