Philip Fisher, part 1 Short Introduction

 Introduction

“If you can’t do something better than others, don’t do it at all!”

Philip Fisher was a pioneer of the quality company philosophy. He believed that quality business and management would produce the best results for investors in all circumstances. Whether it was inflation, deflation, or times of steady growth, quality was the best option for him. He was at his best as an investor when he put his money in industrial companies that utilized natural sciences to develop market-conquering products. He also believed that financial institutions and consumer products companies offered top targets, but he did not believe that he could definitely find them himself. One reason for the latter was perhaps his excessive belief in rationality, when the cornerstone of many consumer products companies’ business is the brand, which is mostly the result of irrationality. He believed that he would get the best results from companies that utilize technology. His investment results support this argument. He believed that too many investors were focusing on companies in too many industries.

Fisher did not believe in diversification, but concentrated his holdings in a smaller number of companies. The majority of his portfolio was in a few stocks. His longest-standing holdings were Motorola and Texas Instruments. He owned them from the 1950s until the early 2000s. According to his son, in his last years he was already demented and unable to make rational decisions. No one has published exact investment results about him, so it is impossible to say how well he did. By investing in Motorola and Texas Instruments alone, he made extremely good returns.

Fisher was a patient, intelligent, uncompromising thinker. He loved three things most: walking, working, and caring. He could walk long distances, enjoying every moment while being at his most relaxed. He walked to and from work every day. He was a minimalist whose only luxury was the view from his home. He never wanted to change anything in his life. He was in his office from nine to four. One reason he always walked to work was that he didn't like crowds and didn't want to communicate with others. He had a few clients and he lectured at Stanford for a while. His book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits served as a textbook there for a long time. He was also afraid of everything and everything all the time. He worried so much that he didn't take much risk when investing. That's why he didn't become as rich as he could have been.