In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher spelled out 15 questions he used to evaluate a company. They were pretty open-ended and could be subject to interpretation. They were not, as he put it, “determined by cloistered mathematical calculation.” They were:

1.	“Does the company have products or services with sufficient market
potential to make possible a sizable increase in sales for at least several years?”
2.	“Does the management have a determination to continue to develop
products or processes that will further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?” 
3.	“How effective are the company’s research and development efforts in
relation to its size?”
4.	“Does the company have an above-average sales organization?” 
5.	“Does the company have a worthwhile profit margin?” 
6.	“What is the company doing to maintain or improve profit margins?” 
7.	“Does the company have outstanding labor and personnel relations?” 
8.	“Does the company have outstanding executive relations?” 
9.	“Does the company have depth to its management?” 
10.	“How good are the company’s cost analysis and accounting controls?” 
11.	“Are there other aspects of the business, somewhat peculiar to the
industry involved, which will give the investor important clues as to how outstanding the company may be in relation to its competition?” 
12.	“Does the company have a short-range or long-range outlook in regard
to profits?” 
13.	“In the foreseeable future will the growth of the company require
sufficient equity financing so that the larger number of shares then outstanding will largely cancel the existing stockholder’s benefit from this anticipated growth?” 
14.	“Does the management talk freely to investors about its affairs when
things are going well but ‘clam up’ when troubles and disappointments occur?” 
15.	“Does the company have a management of unquestionable integrity?” 
Now, I’ll admit, there’s nothing groundbreaking here. Fisher’s 15 questions are fairly well known, and you can find them or slight variations all over the Internet. But I recently discovered that some of Fisher’s wisdom has been purposefully been withheld from investors. In fact, one of Wall Street’s most trusted Web sites glosses over some of what Fisher had to say.

You see, Fisher also listed five “don’ts for investors”:

1.	“Don’t buy into promotional companies.”
2.	“Don’t ignore a good stock just because it is traded
‘over-the-counter.’”
3.	“Don’t buy a stock just because you like the ‘tone’ of its annual
report.”
4.	“Don’t assume that the high price at which a stock may be selling in
relation to its earnings is necessarily an indication that further growth in those earnings has largely been already discounted in the price.” (Or put simply, price to earnings isn’t everything.)
5.	“Don’t quibble over eighths and quarters.” (That is, don’t stress over
a few cents difference in price.)


(from DR letter 7/26/2000)