Philip Fisher was an American investment manager and author best known for Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, published in 1958. His central concern was the business behind a stock: its products, people and capacity to keep growing. A Stanford economics graduate and Army Air Corps veteran, he established the investment counseling firm Fisher & Co. in the early 1930s. He died on March 11, 2004, aged 96, as recorded in Stanford’s obituary of Philip Arthur Fisher.
For readers, Fisher’s appeal is the change in emphasis he demands. Rather than treating stock selection as a hunt for an attractive number, his work asks whether the company deserves a place in a portfolio. That is a harder question, and a more useful starting point for studying his books.
Philip Fisher’s Books: Where to Start
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits is the natural starting point. Its chapters cover business research, fifteen criteria for selecting stocks, buying decisions, selling decisions and mistakes investors should avoid. The structure makes it useful both as an introduction to Fisher’s thinking and as a reference to revisit during company research.
Readers choosing an edition should distinguish the original title from Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings. The latter collects three works, with introductory material from his son, Kenneth L. Fisher. The Wiley edition’s contents identify the following sections.
| Work | Focus |
|---|---|
| Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits | Finding growth stocks and considering when to buy or sell. |
| Conservative Investors Sleep Well | Examining the characteristics of a conservative investment. |
| Developing an Investment Philosophy | The formation and refinement of Fisher’s approach through experience. |
Check the contents before buying. A shorter edition may suit someone interested only in the original book; the collected volume makes more sense for readers who want to compare his selection process with his broader thinking about investment discipline.
The Fifteen Points and Scuttlebutt Research
Fisher’s fifteen points examine whether a company has the commercial strength and management quality to support sustained growth. They address product potential, research effectiveness, sales capability, profitability, employee relations, cost controls and management integrity. Read together, they are a research agenda rather than a mechanical scorecard.
His “scuttlebutt” method supplies evidence for that agenda. It involves investigating a business through people who encounter it commercially, particularly customers, competitors and suppliers. The purpose is to test the company’s claims against perspectives beyond its own management. These connections between business quality and outside investigation are developed in Kenneth Fisher’s preface to the collected writings.
The distinction matters. “Management expects strong demand” records an assertion. “Customers can explain why they keep buying, despite credible alternatives” provides something to examine. Neither statement alone establishes investment merit. The useful work lies in testing whether the evidence agrees, where it conflicts and what remains unknown.
Putting Fisher’s Questions to Work
Consider a hypothetical manufacturer of industrial sensors. Revenue has risen, its latest product looks promising and executives expect several years of expansion. A superficial assessment might stop at the growth forecast. A research exercise inspired by Fisher would ask what has to happen for that forecast to become reality.
Start with the customer’s decision. Does the sensor reduce downtime, improve accuracy or lower maintenance costs? Would a cheaper rival offer much the same result? If the buyer faces a lengthy approval process before changing suppliers, investigate whether that creates lasting loyalty or just delays an eventual switch.
Then examine how growth reaches shareholders. Suppose the manufacturer wins more orders but must offer heavy discounts, increase warranty spending and raise more capital to fund production. Higher sales would not settle the investment question. The research needs to connect commercial success with the economics of delivering it.
A practical reading exercise is to write a short investment case with three parts: the claim, the evidence and what would disprove it. For the sensor manufacturer, the claim might be that product reliability supports repeat purchases. Supporting evidence could include public customer case studies and warranty disclosures. Repeated product failures would challenge the case.
This exercise is not Fisher’s original checklist reproduced. It is a way to turn reading into disciplined questions, without pretending that completing a worksheet makes a stock safe.
Fisher’s Influence on Warren Buffett
Fisher’s place in investment literature rests partly on the regard other investors have shown for his work. In Berkshire Hathaway’s 2012 annual report, Warren Buffett ranked Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits behind only The Intelligent Investor and the 1940 edition of Security Analysis on his list for serious investors.
Buffett also used Fisher’s restaurant analogy to discuss dividend policy. A company, like a restaurant, should communicate a consistent offering rather than repeatedly changing character and confusing the people it attracts. The example shows that Fisher’s concerns extended beyond picking stocks to the relationship between management and shareholders.
Readers studying Warren Buffett’s investment writing can use Fisher as a companion author, while keeping each writer’s arguments distinct. An endorsement is a reason to investigate a book, not a substitute for evaluating its ideas.
How to Read Fisher Critically
The strongest reason to read Fisher is also a reason for caution: his approach asks readers to make judgments. A persuasive executive can sound capable. A satisfied customer can be unrepresentative. A compelling growth story can encourage the researcher to explain away contrary evidence. Treat unanswered questions as gaps, not invitations to become more confident.
Use the books to improve research rather than to obtain a ready-made portfolio. Pair judgments about business quality with a separate examination of price, financing requirements and the consequences of being wrong. Patience should not become an excuse to stop checking the original argument.
Fisher remains relevant to formal investment study: Stanford’s Investment Management and Entrepreneurial Finance course description lists his collected writings as required reading alongside Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor. For a personal reading program, begin with the original work, apply its questions to one business, then return to the passages that proved difficult. The wider selection of books for investors provides a route to contrasting approaches once Fisher’s questions are familiar.