Fire Your Stock Analyst: Analyzing Stocks on Your Own

by Harry Domash

In Fire Your Stock Analyst! , San Francisco Chronicle investment columnist Harry Domash presents a start-to-finish approach to stock selection that draws on winning techniques from the world's top money managers, uses readily available information, and is easy to implement. Learn how to select stocks based on value, growth, and momentum strategies; assess valuation, profitability, risk, business plans, management, and upside/downside potential; decide when to sell; and much more. You'll find everything you need to become a more successful - and self-reliant - investor!

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2002

Reviews

[Charlie Lake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2003. This is an excellent read if you are interested in understanding stocks. A dry read if you have little knowledge of income statements and balance sheets but worth your while to persevere. Discusses how to approach picking value and growth candidates to own. Clearly describes why you should pay attention to certain key indicators such as cash flow, debt, profit margins and redflags that indicate risks in owning certain stocks. A book that needs to be by your side constantly. Highly Recommended. Very little has changed in the fundamentals of stock picking since this book was published 20 years ago.

[David Kudlinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Domash is the stock guru I follow and trust most. His book is dry, but informative - and despite my best intentions, I do not have time to do his complete diagnostic test on any stock. And there is no reason to, since Harry makes the buy/sell recommendations for his stocks each month on his Dividend Detective web site, which I scrutinize. I’ve read many books on the stock market – I do not follow TV celebrity showman, Jim Cramer, because he is a frenetic savant who is too rambling and unfocused for public consumption, in my opinion. I studied put and call options, but this is too complicated for an amateur, and, in my opinion, it is more about gambling than investing. With the direction of the stock market uncertain, I think it is best to collect high dividends. Sure, I have some money in a 401K, but the so-called “professional fund managers” managing my portfolios were comatose at the controls during the 2001 internet bubble bust and 2008 real estate melt-down. It is a common misconception that a stock broker’s or fund manager’s number one responsibility is to make huge profits; no, his or her number one duty is to avoid catastrophic losses! As sad it is, I will do no worse on my own, than some Joe Sh*t the Rag with a business or finance degree. And shockingly, a leading Wall Street brokerage firm has been accused by Congress of secretly short-selling overvalued stocks that they have advised their own customers to buy long. This happened after these so-called Wall Street “experts” invested heavily in risky mortgages – something a sophomore in high school wouldn’t do – now our middle class tax money must bail out these Wall Street nincompoops.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the cheesy title, the book itself is pretty good in terms of an introductory of stock picking. It does well avoiding what one would learn in school and does well teaching what one should have learnt in school.

The book summarizes value investing and growth investing. It explains what it is and how it is done. It goes into great detail on what to look for, how to look for it, and why to look for it. It is well organized and short and concise with good examples.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still plowing through this one. I picked it up because I'd like to do some investing, and this book seems to have it all. Very in-depth and detailed.

[Candy Chiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introductory book to fundamental analysis.

[Alex Phung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for people who want to rock their investments or become professional stock analysts

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Provides good screening tips and an overview of ratios for the non-accountant.