way back when i was first getting into the markets i applied the principles that slater offers, im certainly a big fan of it, it makes sense to focus on the smaller companies that have demonstarted excellent growth consistently (previous five years etc) and often with market caps under 100 million as slater says elephants dont gallop and brokers often cover these stocks less frequently because of their relative small size, giving the private investor great opportunity to be in before the institutions pile in.
10 years ago before i had a p.c i used to go to the library and they stock the recent quarters of company refs for you to use in the reference section of the library, i also obtain a copy of the book a guide to using company refs.
another book i aquired was written by a city brooker its title was how to choose stockmarket winners, corny title i know, but its an excellent read packed with details on how this broker made money valuing companies it tells you exactly what details you need to start recording regarding stock prices etc, a few stocks i remeber buying back then were, adare printing, toy options (character group) prism leisure, martin shelton, but that required you to often hold for 6 months, year, upwards etc expecting stock prices to double , i then became aware of the futures market and realised i would like to look into that, WOW, i was an excellent investor, but wanted to get into the riskiest investment out there, (thinking the greater the risk, the greater reward expectations for assuming that risk) which is true, but so bloody difficult, about 6 years later im only beginning to note that my account has stopped falling and is increasing.
whether the zulu principle is still relevant to todays market is a good question i was thinking over the weekend that we are entering a new era regarding risks for world markets, that of terrorism, what effect will that have on stock valuations if terrorism continues and grows as i expect it will, will stocks that used to warrant pe rations of 15,20,30 all be valued at 5, 4, 3 etc because of the terrorist factor, ie the fact that it may well be too risky to hold stocks because the markets will plummet when a terrible device (nuclear? chemical) detonates. Im not a doomsayer but how many of us would be surprised to hear on the news one day that a primitive nuclear or chemical device has exploded in (whatever western society).
i would look at it and probably think, well its finally happend, god help us.. i just cant see the authorities controlling it.
thats when the markets will meltdown.
I hope it doesnt happen in my lifetime but we are at a time when its VERY POSSIBLE
jd.