Philip Fisher

This article is about the investor Philip Fisher. For the painter see Philip Fischer , for other people see Philipp Fischer .

Philip Arthur Fisher (born September 8, 1907 in San Francisco , † March 11, 2004 in San Mateo ) was a securities analyst and asset manager.

With the publication of his book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits in 1958, he wrote one of the best-selling books in the field of personal investment. His work significantly influenced the investment strategy of business people like Warren Buffett and Charles Munger .

Fisher's son, Ken Fisher, is the founder and CEO of Fisher Investments, a US wealth manager .

Work and influence of Fisher

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits is the best known of Philip Fisher's three books. It is regarded as his answer to the two books of the "Dean of Wall Street", Benjamin Graham , who is considered the father of fundamental analysis through the publication of Security Analysis (1934, together with David Dodd) and The Intelligent Investor (1949). Unlike Graham, he argued that the cheap price of a security might not be all that important if it were backed by a really great company with proven profitability and excellent growth prospects. For him, the integrity of the management and the constant development of the company in order to set itself apart from the competition were much more important factors than a low stock price when buying stocks. According to him, it was not decisive whether one saves a few percent when buying by waiting when the price of a share, analogous to the profits of the company, multiplies over years and decades. His focus on the longest possible holding period for the shares was also remarkable, with Warren Buffett later saying, following Fisher, of himself: "Our favorite holding period is forever." (For example: "Our preferred holding period (for shares) is forever.") Fisher's most famous investment was probably the purchase of Motorola shares in the 1950s when the company was still a small radio manufacturer. He held on to the shares until his death, with a more than impressive increase in value over the decades.

Publications (selection)

• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. Harper & Bros., New York 1958, OCLC 560808655 .
• Conservative Investors Sleep Well. Harper & Row, New York 1975, ISBN 0-0601-1256-5 .
• Developing an Investment Philosophy. (= Monograph. [Financial Analysts Research Foundation], No. 10.), The Financial Analysts Research Foundation, Charlottesville 1980, OCLC 6747097 .
• The professional investment strategy. With Philip A. Fisher's investment rules to success. TM Börsenverlag AG, Rosenheim, 3rd edition 2013, ISBN 978-3-930851-73-7 .

Web links

• Learning from the Long Men , National Review Online
• Obituary for Philip Fisher by his son Ken