원문 보기
Peterlink is considered one of the greatest investment managers in history. For 13 years he managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund between 1977 and 1990. During that period, the fund's assets grew from approximately $20 million to over $14 billion. But before becoming famous on Wall Street, Linky had a very different career path than many people imagine.
Peterlinky was born on January 19, 1944, in Newton, Massachusetts. When he was still a child, his father died after being diagnosed with brain cancer. To help his family, Linky started working at a young age as a caddie at a golf club. And it was precisely there that he began to have contact with conversations about business and the stock market.
In 1966, Linky landed a summer internship at Fidelity. One curious detail helped create this opportunity. During his years as a caddie, he had worked for company executives, including its president, D. George Sullivan. After serving two years in the army, Linky returned to Fidelity in 1969, this time as a research analyst.
In 1963, an investment was made that would help shape its trajectory. After researching a company called Flying Tiger Line, Linky bought shares for about $7 each. The company was eventually acquired for a much higher price, and the experience reinforced an idea that would accompany him throughout his career.
Good opportunities can arise in companies that are part of the real world. Before building his career as a manager, Linky went to university. He studied history, politics, and philosophy at Boston College, graduating in 1965. He then continued his studies at the Wharton School, where he completed an MBA in 1968.
This combination of academic training and practical experience would be important to the way he analyzed companies. After completing his MBA and spending two years in the army, Lynch returned to Fidelity in 1969. He started as a research analyst and went on to track sectors and companies in different areas.
This experience would be fundamental in developing one of the best- known characteristics of his method: researching thoroughly before investing. In 1977, Lynch received the assignment that would change his career. He took over management of Fidelity's Magellan Fund . At that time, the fund had approximately $18 million under management.
What happened in the following 13 years would transform Magellan into one of the best-known funds in the history of the American market. Instead of trying to predict the behavior of the entire market, Lynch became known for seeking out specific companies. He analyzed businesses, sectors, and results, seeking to understand what was behind the numbers.
For him, getting to know a company could be much more useful than simply following market fluctuations. The results started to attract attention. Over the following years, Magellan grew extraordinarily. When Lynch left management in 1990, the fund was managing over $14 billion . During his tenure, the average annual return was close to 29% - a figure that helped make his work a benchmark in the history of investment funds.
Over the following years, the Magellan underwent an impressive transformation. The strategy wasn't simply to buy famous companies, but to look for businesses with growth potential and analyze them individually. In 1990, when Link stepped down from management, the fund had already grown to over $13 billion in assets, far exceeding the approximately $18 million it managed when he took over.
One of the best-known ideas associated with Link's method was to pay attention to the companies that are part of everyday life. A store, restaurant, or brand that starts appearing more and more frequently can raise an important question. Is there a really interesting business opportunity there ? But observing a product was only the beginning.
The company still needed to be analyzed. For Link, finding an interesting company didn't mean buying its shares immediately. It was necessary to understand how the company made money, what its growth prospects were , what its financial situation was, and whether the share price made sense. This combination of understanding the business and evaluating its numbers was at the heart of his approach.
One of the defining characteristics of Link's strategy was to seek out companies capable of increasing their profits over time. The logic was simple. If a company's profits are able to grow consistently, this can create conditions for the value of the business to also increase. But growth alone was not enough.
The price paid for the stock also mattered. To organize his analyses, Link popularized a classification of companies into different categories, such as slow-growth, stable, fast-growth, cyclical, turnaround, and companies with valuable assets. The idea was to understand that each type of business had different characteristics, risks, and expectations.
One of the great lessons associated with Link is that there is no perfect company for all investors. A company can be excellent and still have a stock that is too expensive, so their analysis combined the quality of the business, its growth prospects, its financial situation, and the price paid. The goal was to find a favorable relationship between risk, growth, and value.
Investing in companies also means facing periods of decline. Throughout his career, Link navigated extremely challenging markets, including the 1987 crash. That year, the S&P 500 index fell approximately 20% in a single day, on October 19th. Experience has shown one of the most difficult characteristics of any long-term strategy: continuing to analyze businesses even when the market panics.
In 1989, this experience was transformed into a book that helped popularize his way of thinking about investing. The book introduced concepts such as knowing what you are investing in, researching the company, and understanding why a stock might have potential. The book has become one of the best-known references for individual investors.
After 13 years at the helm of Magellan, Link decided to step down from managing the fund in 1990. During that time, the fund had grown from approximately $18 million to over $13 billion in assets. He left the professional market while still relatively young, at age 46, and began dedicating more time to his family, education, and philanthropy.
Even after leaving Magellan's management, the ideas he developed during his career continued to influence investors. The main message wasn't simply to find the next stock that would go up. It involved studying companies, understanding their businesses, analyzing their results, and having a clear investment thesis before investing.
Link's career helped bring the world of investing closer to the average investor. His experience at Magellan, his books, and his way of explaining companies made him one of the best-known figures in the history of stock investing, but perhaps his greatest contribution was showing that analyzing a company can begin with a simple question: "Do I really understand this business?" Now, after hearing this story, I want to know which of these ideas you consider most important for investing better?
Analyze the numbers, understand the business, or have the patience to wait? Comment below with your choice.
Comments 0