Eli Bendersky's website Peter Lynch is a legendary investor on the Wall Street. He managed a multi-billion dollar mutual fund (Fidelity Magellan) for more than 10 years, and was highly successful in this task. After he retired from the fund, he gave stock advise to the Barron panel - his insights were very useful then too, and on paper gained much more yields than the S&P 500. So what is his secret ? That's what this book is about.
This book caused a lot of hype, #1 national bestseller (you know, Lynch's name much larger than the book title on the cover). Besides it was Lynch's second book. I was afraid it's a hype-book, repeating the same catchy idea in different forms for 300 pages. So, the pleasant surprise is: the book is nothing like that. It's very much "down to earth", with many advices that seem very practical.
Lynch admits that there's no magic in stock-picking, but it's mostly hard work. To have the good performance he had, Lynch worked 80 hour weeks, on weekends and on vacations. This is sobering. On one hand, you find out that picking good stock really IS hard (hopefully this doesn't surprise anyone). On the other hand, though, you see that although it's hard, it's not magical, it's a job like any other thought-demanding job. Think, learn, research, work and you will suceed. This, in fact, is the main message "Beating the street" is trying to pass on to its readers.
So what it takes to pick stocks, according to Lynch ? Looking at the charts and sensing "directions of the stock" is far from enough. One should learn to read financial statements of firms, to research the industry in which the firm operates, to feel and understand the trends in this industry. Picking a stock is a result of a lot of work. You buy a stock when you feel the company will rise, period. But deciding whether it will rise is a conglomeration of many factors, which Lynch tries to teach the readers.
By all means, read the book if you plan to invest in the stock marked (be it through stocks, options or funds).