The Big Tech Score

A Wall Street Analyst Reveals Ten Secrets to Investing Success

By: Mike Kwatinetz, Danielle Kwatinetz Wood

Narrated by: Barrett Whitener

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The market is down and you know there are good buying opportunities out there. But face it, you're a little skittish. High-tech stocks seem particularly risky. However, with the proper know-how, it is still possible to make a nice profit on high-tech investing. This informative and engaging primer from one of Wall Street's leading tech analysts will show you how.

No magic formulas or easy short cuts here. Instead, Mike Kwatinetz offers a practical, step-by-step game plan that will give you the tools to make informed decisions about the market. Learn the research skills to select a handful of promising stocks and how to filter through the flood of financial information to determine how much each stock is worth and what its prospects are. Whether the market is up or down, the advice in The Big Tech Score will take the guesswork out of managing your portfolio.

©2001 Mike Kwatinetz (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Required reading for investors�" (Worth magazine)
"Kwatinetz understood the benefits and potential of Gateway's business model long before most people on Wall Street knew who we were." (Ted Waitt, founder Gateway)

Intriguing, but listen with a grain of salt

Overall, I enjoyed the book even though the authors over-used Microsoft and Dell as examples of his successful stock picks. The basic concepts regarding the characteristics of a successful technology company are good, although they are marred somewhat by the irrational exuberance that affected virtually everyone in the bubble era. It is now amusing to hear about paying 40-70x P/E for a stock. Some of Mike's favorite stocks, including Red Hat software, Audible.com, Gateway, also have not done well. Overall though, it provides insights into how a research analyst in that era assess companies and pick stocks.

A blueprint for a personally managed portfolio

I liked this book enough that I've bought multiple hardcopies for friends and myself. The book provides a blueprint for personally managing a small number of stocks. This stock portfolio should be hedged by other diverse investments including safe money (i.e. fixed interest) and mutual funds.

There is a lot of good advice throughout the book. They cover, in part, (1) why you should concentrate on a few stocks and know them inside and out, (2) metrics for determining an appropriate value for a stock, (3) effective screening tools in finding the gems, and (4) some no-nonsense views of how the stock market really operates with respect to analysts.