Synopses & Reviews
The
Fisher Investments on series is designed to provide individual investors, aspiring investment professionals, and students the tools necessary to understand and analyze investment opportunities—primarily for investing in global stocks. Each guide is an easily accessible primer to economic sectors, regions, or other components of the global stock market. While this guide specifically focuses on Energy, the basic investment methodology is applicable for analyzing any global sector, regardless of the current macroeconomic environment.
Following a top-down approach to investing, Fisher Investments on Energy can help you make more informed decisions within the Energy sector. It skillfully addresses how to approach your portfolio's Energy allocation, how to determine which Energy sub-industries have the potential to perform well, and how individual stocks can benefit in various environments. The global Energy sector is complex, covering multiple sub-industries and countries—each with unique characteristics. Using the framework found here, you can discover how to identify these differences, spot opportunities, and avoid major pitfalls.
Divided into three comprehensive parts—Getting Started, Energy Details, and Thinking Like a Portfolio Manager—Fisher Investments on Energy:
Discusses Energy's drivers, including all the supply and demand components of its main drivers—oil and natural gas prices
Takes you through the seven sub-industries within the global Energy sector and reveals how they operate
Addresses the challenges of today's Energy sector, including peak oil and alternative energy
Delves into top-down investment methodology as well as individual security analysis
Outlines a five-step process to help differentiate firms in this field—designed to help you identify ones with the greatest probability of outperforming
Provides investment strategies for a variety of market environments
Filled with in-depth insights and expert advice, Fisher Investments on Energy provides a framework for understanding this sector and its industries, to help you make better investment decisions—now and in the future. With this book as your guide, you'll gain a global perspective of the Energy sector in your quest to achieve consistent success in it.
Synopsis
Throughout this book, the reader will gain a basic understanding of how the sector works, the macroeconomic drivers of oil and natural gas, energy sector drivers, the investment universe of the energy sector segmented by industries, individual security analysis, and alternative energy investment opportunities. The book will discuss how to track industry fundamentals from publicly available data and how to analyze data to make better investment decisions. Lastly, the book will discuss investment strategies for a wide variety of market conditions, including when oil and gas stocks fall out of favor or in a bear market.
Synopsis
The first offering from the
Fisher Investments On investing series is a comprehensive guide to the Energy sector. The book can benefit both new and seasoned investors, covering everything from Energy sector basics to specific industry insights to practical investing tactics, including common pitfalls to avoid. Azelton and Teufel demonstrate a method for uncovering performance and risk-management opportunities—and show the readers how they can do it, too. Filled with detailed graphs and tables, unique insight, and practical advice,
Fisher Investments on Energy can provide readers with a solid foundation in this sector.
For more information visit www.energy.fisherinvestments.com
Synopsis
Through Fisher Investments on Materials, readers will gain a basic understanding of how the materials sector works, the macroeconomic drivers of metals, chemicals, construction material, paper, and packaging. The investment universe will be segmented by industries and individual securities within each industry.
The book will begin with a discussion of Fisher Investment's investing philosophy as it applies to the Materials sector. Then, readers will be lead through a discussion of the basics within the sector, what drives the industries, and then specific analysis of various individual securities. Finally, the book will look at the industry fundamentals and discuss what investors should do to protect themselves in a down market.
Synopsis
The first offering from the Fisher Investments On investing series is a comprehensive guide to the Energy sector. The book can benefit both new and seasoned investors, covering everything from Energy sector basics to specific industry insights to practical investing tactics, including common pitfalls to avoid. Azelton and Teufel demonstrate a method for uncovering performance and risk-management opportunities—and show the readers how they can do it, too. Filled with detailed graphs and tables, unique insight, and practical advice, Fisher Investments on Energy can provide readers with a solid foundation in this sector.
For more information visit www.energy.fisherinvestments.com
About the Author
Aaron M. Azelton (San Francisco, California) is an equity research analyst covering the Energy sector at Fisher Investments. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Economics. He has been with Fisher Investments since 2002. Aaron grew up in Santa Monica, California, and is currently living in San Francisco.
Andrew S. Teufel (San Francisco, California) has been a member of Fisher Investments research staff since 1995 and is currently Co-President and Director of Research. Prior to joining the firm, he worked at Bear Stearns as a corporate finance analyst. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and has lectured at the Haas School of Business on topics in investment management. Andrew has conducted hundreds of investment seminars and educational workshops throughout the US and the United Kingdom. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of MarketMinder.com.
Table of Contents
Foreword.
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Part I. Getting Started in Materials.
Chapter 1. Materials Basics.
Materials 101.
Commodity Pricing Basics.
The Production Process.
Chapter 2. A Brief History of Materials.
The Industrial Revolution.
Structural Shifts in Metals since the Industrial Revolution.
Industrialization of the Emerging Markets.
Chapter 3. Materials Sector Drivers.
Key Drivers.
Drivers At Work.
Case Study: Copper.
Part 2. Next Steps: Materials Details.
Chapter 4. Materials Sector Breakdown.
Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS).
Global Materials Benchmarks.
Metals & Mining Industry.
Chemicals.
Construction Materials.
Paper & Forest Products.
Containers & Packaging.
Chapter 5. Staying Current - Tracking Sector Fundamentals.
What to Watch.
Chapter 6. Case Study - The 2003 to 2007 Bull Market in Materials.
The Backdrop.
Demand Growth.
Supply Constraints.
The Growth of Mergers and Acquisitions.
Part 3. Thinking Like a Portfolio Manager.
Chapter 7. The Top Down Method.
Investing Is a Science.
the Top-Down Method.
Top-Down Deconstructed.
Managing Against a Materials Benchmark.
Chapter 8. Security Analysis.
Make Your Selection.
A Five-Step Process.
Important Questions to Ask.
Chapter 9. Materialize Your Portfolio - Investing Strategies.
Strategy #1: Adding Value at the Industry and Sub-industry Level.
Strategy #2: Adding Value at the Security Level.
Strategy #3: Adding Value in a Materials Sector Downturn.
Strategy #4: Investing In Commodities.
Appendix A: Materials Sector Resources.
Appendix B: Top Ten Materials Firms by Industry.
Notes.
Glossary.
About the Authors.
Index.