Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings

Favorable profit to sales ratios, notwithstanding differences in turnover ratios, may be a better indicator of the safety of an investment

The further into the future profits will continue to grow, the higher the price-earnings ratio an investor can afford to pay.

Many times in my career, someone would tell me (a) that I was wrong (which may have been and always may be quite true) and (b) that my father never would have done what I'm doing.

Actually it always results from the blending of three separate appraisals: the current financial-community appraisal of the attractiveness of common stocks as a whole, of the industry of which the particular company is a part, and, finally, of the company itself.

The other four influences are the trend of interest rates, the over-all governmental attitude toward investment and private enterprise, the long-range trend to more and more inflation, and—possibly most powerful of all—new inventions and techniques as they affect old industries