# Suggest Fundamental Analysis book to get on my Kindle



## shyguy (31 January 2011)

I think i will primarily be a technical analysis trader but I feel i should also do some reading on fundamental analysis to get both sides of the coin and potentially find aspects that i may wish to incorporate when reviewing shares.

i have a kindle so if anyone could recommend one i can get on that it would be great!

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...t&field-keywords=fundamental+analysis&x=0&y=0


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## robusta (31 January 2011)

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, probably the best book I have read.


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## shyguy (4 February 2011)

well i got that book and i am about 6% through it (according to my kindle)... i must say I am a little dissapointed so far... mainly because the book seems somewhat depressing after reading a lot about technical analysis. im not sure how the rest of the book will go but so far it seems to state that you should ocus on bonds and only a small amount on shares. It also talks about anything other then very stable big company shares being highly volatile and that it largely comes down to luck! Hence technical anlysis is just another way of making a guess...

i was really hoping to read about fundamentals to understand that side of the coin and hopefully improve my analysis efforts... 

im not looking for a book full of sugar coated lies but i am finding this one so far to be somewhat negative and a big promoter of playing low return but safe options...

does it get better? dont want to waste time with it if it doesnt...


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## ROE (4 February 2011)

robusta said:


> The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham, probably the best book I have read.




This is a boring book  

Warren really talk it up to give credit to his lecturer but come on only 2 chapters are useful in this books.

Mr Market and Margin of safety

I sometimes got lazy and say the same thing but really there are much better books

Try common stock uncommon profit by Phil Fisher now this guy tell you how
to buy good business  and you can make a lot of money follow some of his principles 
Pay up for good business, Uncle Phil Style, I play Uncle Phil style with NVT

http://www.amazon.com/Common-Uncommon-Profits-Writings-ebook/dp/B000VI52O0


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## Tysonboss1 (5 February 2011)

ROE said:


> This is a boring book
> 
> Warren really talk it up to give credit to his lecturer but come on only 2 chapters are useful in this books.
> 
> ...




I Personally found the Intelligent Investor a great book, Maybe I am a boring person .

I havn't read the other two you mentioned though.


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## Tysonboss1 (5 February 2011)

shyguy said:


> well i got that book and i am about 6% through it (according to my kindle)... i must say I am a little dissapointed so far... mainly because the book seems somewhat depressing after reading a lot about technical analysis. im not sure how the rest of the book will go but so far it seems to state that you should ocus on bonds and only a small amount on shares. It also talks about anything other then very stable big company shares being highly volatile and that it largely comes down to luck! Hence technical anlysis is just another way of making a guess...
> 
> i was really hoping to read about fundamentals to understand that side of the coin and hopefully improve my analysis efforts...
> 
> ...




Some of grahams best teachings are styled as warnings, remember he wrote his text book "security analysis" during the great depression. I think if you discarded grahams work you would miss some of the greatest investment principles you can learn.

Remember when gramham is speaking about investing he describes two classes the "defensive" and the "enterprizing", the two operate in completely different ways.

There are plenty of "how to make a Million in 5 years" books out there, This is not the game graham was in, He writes on how to build successful investment operations based on sound investment policy.


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## Tysonboss1 (5 February 2011)

shyguy said:


> Hence technical anlysis is just another way of making a guess...




Thats what TA is isn't it.


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## Gringotts Bank (5 February 2011)

I think there's very few real FA guys in ASF.  Try this:


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...+reports&rh=n:283155,k:read+financial+reports


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## ROE (5 February 2011)

Tysonboss1 said:


> I Personally found the Intelligent Investor a great book, Maybe I am a boring person .
> 
> I havn't read the other two you mentioned though.




I can tell you Warren buffet credit Ben Graham a lot more than he should after all his investment style isn't Benjamin Graham

Follow Ben ideas and cigar butt  nearly cost him with Berkshire textiles purchase
phil fisher would never touch it -

It 80% Phil Fisher principles and Charlie Munger 

How often you see him talk about management, moat, track record, competitive advantages, scuttlebutt ? well there is one person before him who did that and make a lot of money and that is Phil Fisher

I admire Warren and Benjamin but I think most people don't credit Phil Fisher enough
I reckon he has all the right principles selecting great companies that deliver strong earning and share holder returns.

Have a read of phil book and compared it to the intelligent investors when you have time


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## mazzatelli (5 February 2011)

Tysonboss1 said:


> Thats what TA is isn't it.




Operating with a lack of knowledge => guesses.
Just like those foolish option buyers you believe exist in the market...


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## Lone Wolf (5 February 2011)

shyguy said:


> Hence technical anlysis is just another way of making a guess...






Tysonboss1 said:


> Thats what TA is isn't it.




Can't the same be said for fundamental analysis? In TA you use analysis of the price action to form an opinion about what you think the share price will do in the future. In FA you analyse the company itself to form an opinion about what you think the share price will do in the future. Neither forms of analysis are a sure thing. In both cases you estimate the probability of a favorable outcome.

Which form gives you the most accurate estimate and which form can you personally convert into a profitable system? That depends on the capabilities of the individual.


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## motorway (5 February 2011)

in the Short Term ?
In the Long term ?

Mr market ?
Wisdom of the crowd ?

Composite Operator ?

TA is an objective way of measuring
the "Voting" and the "weighing" ( Graham ? was he right in this statement IF SO )

So  you do not have to guess

Motorway


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## motorway (5 February 2011)

ROE said:


> I can tell you Warren buffet credit Ben Graham a lot more than he should after all his investment style isn't Benjamin Graham
> 
> Follow Ben ideas and cigar butt  nearly cost him with Berkshire textiles purchase
> phil fisher would never touch it -
> ...




Agree Big very Big influence on Buffet..

Where he realized Value and Growth were " Joined at the hip" 

Motorway


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## Tysonboss1 (6 February 2011)

ROE said:


> I can tell you Warren buffet credit Ben Graham a lot more than he should after all his investment style isn't Benjamin Graham
> 
> Follow Ben ideas and cigar butt  nearly cost him with Berkshire textiles purchase
> phil fisher would never touch it -
> ...




I know exactly what you are saying, But you can't write off Ben graham. I aggree 100% that Warren is not a strict Ben Graham follower, But bens priciples are still the back bone of the beast, and I believe anybody who reads Bens work is going to learn somthing, I sure did any way.

It's true you can never learn everything you need to know about investing from 1 book, you have to be continually learning from multiple sources, Bens work is a good source.

But as Charlie Munger says. " the school of life is allways open, and if your not learning your falling behind" So I will add Phil fisher to my list. .


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## Tysonboss1 (6 February 2011)

mazzatelli said:


> Operating with a lack of knowledge => guesses.
> Just like those foolish option buyers you believe exist in the market...




Did I ever use the word foolish, I don't think I did. I simply said they were gamblers rather than investors, But any way that's a story in another thread.


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## Tysonboss1 (6 February 2011)

Lone Wolf said:


> Can't the same be said for fundamental analysis? In TA you use analysis of the price action to form an opinion about what you think the share price will do in the future. In FA you analyse the company itself to form an opinion about what you think the share price will do in the future. Neither forms of analysis are a sure thing. In both cases you estimate the probability of a favorable outcome.




In fundamental analysis you are not trying to determine what the price will be tommorrow, next week or next month. You simply are trying to use facts to generate a picture of the companies earning power over time and then use this infomation to determine a maximum price you can pay for the stock and still have it generate a suitable return in % terms compared to the capital you had to outlay.

T/A and F/A are different at their core that you can not compare the too.

At the core fundamental investors are looking to the asset itself to generate the return overtime, where as T/a Traders are looking to second guess the market and get their return from other traders or investors in the form of short term price fluctuations.

But there are plenty of other threads dicussing this, So I don't wish to get into it here. It's up to you to decide what works for you.


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## Lone Wolf (6 February 2011)

Tysonboss1 said:


> In fundamental analysis you are not trying to determine what the price will be tommorrow, next week or next month. You simply are trying to use facts to generate a picture of the companies earning power over time and then use this infomation to determine a maximum price you can pay for the stock and still have it generate a suitable return in % terms compared to the capital you had to outlay.




I agree that investing requires a different approach to trading and that if you invest in a company you should know the fundamentals of that company. I just don't see why TA is guessing but FA isn't. In FA you make a guess on future company returns based on current company fundamentals. You say you don't try to guess what the future price will be. But you are investing to make a profit, so you must believe the price will go up over time, or at least be offset by dividend returns. However, you don't know for sure this will happen.

I'm happy to end it here, we're probably just arguing terminology anyway. For me, if you don't know the outcome for certain then it's a guess. I guess my car is still in the garage where I left it last night, but I won't know for sure until I see it.

Sorry for diverting the thread.


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## mazzatelli (6 February 2011)

Tysonboss1 said:


> Did I ever use the word foolish, I don't think I did. I simply said they were gamblers rather than investors, But any way that's a story in another thread.




You're talk of gambling, and stout advocacy of fundamental analysis would imply the person is foolish. 

Anyway we've already had the debate about options, and you're just as misinformed about that market now, as you were back then. We all appreciate you're contributions w.r.t fundamental topics, but the bs against other forms of analysis is well...getting tired.

I don't utilize technical analysis...


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## tech/a (6 February 2011)

Gringotts Bank said:


> I think there's very few real FA guys in ASF.  Try this:
> 
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...+reports&rh=n:283155,k:read+financial+reports




Very few Real T/A guys either.
Even less who 
REALLY trade.


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## Tysonboss1 (6 February 2011)

mazzatelli said:


> You're talk of gambling, and stout advocacy of fundamental analysis would imply the person is foolish.




No, not at all.

In Grahams words,

" There is Intelligent speculation just as their is intelligent investing, But there are many ways in which speculation is unintelligent, among which is speculating when you think your investing"


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## shyguy (26 February 2011)

well i bought Common Stocks & Uncommon Profit and am about 1/3 of the way through...

my take so far: while there are some key lessons to be learnt it seems to talk from the perpective that the investor can speak with key employees of the business to learn about how it operates and then from there make a decision on investment.... who can actually speak to the management of a company to determine if they are a good investment??? or find out how their employees are treated???


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## Huskar (13 June 2011)

shyguy said:


> i was really hoping to read about fundamentals to understand that side of the coin and hopefully improve my analysis efforts...
> 
> im not looking for a book full of sugar coated lies but i am finding this one so far to be somewhat negative and a big promoter of playing low return but safe options...




Try Terry Smith, "Accounting for Growth" 1996. Not sure if it will be on Kindle, but I discovered it on some dusty bookshelf a few months ago and despite its age, it is readable and interesting as it examines the warning signs evident in reports of companies especially during the LBO boom in the 80s. Nothing really changes: another 20 years, another boom and bust ...


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## davede (24 June 2011)

The Intelligent Investor certainly is the most-well known however it is a bit dull.

One of the most popular and easier to read books is _One Up On Wall Street, Peter Lynch_

http://www.amazon.com/One-Wall-Street-Already-Market/dp/0140127925

Of course as a macro investor my favourites are:
- Inside the House of Money
- Stock Market Wizards
- The New Market Wizards

The most theoretical and impractical book by far = The Alchemy of Finance, Soros


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