I was recently reading through some of Peter Lynch’s old books and essays (One Up On Wall Street, Beating The Street, etc.), searching either for wisdom I missed my first time through or to refresh basic concepts that had drifted too far to the back of my mind. Other than Munger, Graham, Buffett, Neff, and Schloss, Peter Lynch is probably the one man that has influenced my own investment decisions the most.
Lynch taught me that it is important to separate emotion, prejudice, biases, and even sexiness from the underlying reality. I credit him for teaching me to pick up Johnson & Johnson stock in the mid $60s when no one wanted it, even though it was clear that the profits were improving despite the string of product recalls. It helped me pick up shares of Bank of America in the $7-$8 range, as the bank’s maligned reputation during … Read the rest of this article!