InsiderFlow › Investors › Peter Lynch
THE PEOPLE'S FUND MANAGER · FIDELITY (MAGELLAN)
"Buy what you know": finding extraordinary companies in everyday life, before Wall Street notices.
Peter Lynch ran Fidelity's Magellan fund from 1977 to 1990: a 29% average annual return for thirteen years, the best track record ever recorded by a public mutual fund. A thousand dollars entrusted to him in 1977 was worth $28,000 when he retired.
His philosophy, told in the bestsellers "One Up on Wall Street" and "Beating the Street", is disarming: the small investor has an edge over professionals, because they encounter winning products — a crowded store, a beloved brand — months before they appear in analyst reports.
He classified companies into six categories (from "stalwarts" to "fast growers") and coined "tenbagger": the stock that multiplies tenfold. He retired at 46, at his peak, for family and philanthropy.
Big funds' moves are public in SEC 13F filings: InsiderFlow tracks and explains them.
Not blindly buying brands you love: using your own experience as a research starting point, then verifying the numbers.
The principles (understand the business, think long term, distrust fads) are timeless; the retail information edge has shrunk, but not vanished.