Philip Fisher's 15 Points: A UK Investor's Checklist
Buffett has said he is 15% Philip Fisher. That 15% is what took him from cigar butts to great businesses. The checklist is free. The discipline to actually run it is the catch.
Fisher's 15 points by focus area
| Theme | Points | UK source | Red flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product runway | 1, 2, 11 | Strategic report | One cash cow |
| Margins and R&D | 3, 5, 6 | Income statement | Margins competed away |
| People and culture | 4, 7, 8, 9 | Glassdoor, RNS | C-suite turnover |
| Accounting and capital | 10, 13 | Audit report | Restated accounts |
| Management integrity | 12, 14, 15 | FCA register, AGM | Any doubt - walk |
Pass all 15 and you have a candidate. Fail any of #15 and you walk.
Key takeaways
Philip Fisher's 15 points are the qualitative checklist from his 1958 book Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, used to screen growth companies before buying.
The points cover product runway, management quality, R&D, margins, labour relations, accounting controls, and management integrity.
Fisher paired the checklist with the scuttlebutt method: talking to customers, suppliers, ex-employees, and competitors to verify what annual reports cannot say.
UK investors have the raw material to apply this - annual reports, RNS announcements, Glassdoor, AGM transcripts, Companies House filings - all free.