A smarter way to find value

One of the biggest mistakes investors make is to pay too much for a share, says Phil Oakley. Piotroski's F-Score is one way of avoiding that.

One of the biggest mistakes an investor can make is paying too much for a share. This often happens because the company can't live up to the lofty expectations that the market is already pricing in.

To avoid this risk, noted value investor Benjamin Graham advocated a strategy of buying very cheap stocks. He reasoned that these shares were so depressed that there was little expectation of things getting better. But if they did, he stood a good chance of making money.

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Quindell5850.767
Ferrexpo4950.487
Trinity Mirror4220.748
Urban & Civic3120.857
Sportech1200.868
Steppe Cement780.838
Finsbury Food770.657
Zambeef Products410.277

Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.