What are Warren Buffett’s criteria for buying a stock? They are very straightforward. They are all about understanding a company, projecting its future earnings, and evaluating the quality of a company’s management. As Buffett notes, “It is simple, but not easy.”
“The criteria for selecting a stock is really the criteria for looking at a business. We are looking for a business we can understand,” Warren Buffett said at the 1998 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. “That means they sell a product that we think we understand, and we understand the nature of the competition, what could go wrong with it over time. And then when we find that business we try to figure out whether the economics of it means the earning power over the next five, or ten, or fifteen years is likely to be good and getting better or poor and getting worse. But we try to evaluate that future stream. And then we try to decide whether we’re getting in with some people that we feel comfortable being in with. And then we try to decide what’s an appropriate price for what we’ve seen up to that point.”
Buffett’s full explanation of his criteria for buying a stock
See the complete Lessons From Warren Buffett series
© 2021 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.