Legendary investor Peter Lynch made stock picking sound easy Tuesday morning on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” but even he admitted he’s missed some obvious buys over the years.
“When companies go from crappy to semi-crappy, the stock goes up. When it goes from semi-crappy to great, they go up, but when business gets terrific, get out,” he said.
What you should know: The Vice President of Fidelity Management & Research averaged nearly 30% annual returns over his tenure as manager of the Magellan Fund.
ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCKS OR CRYPTO
Enter your email and you’ll also receive Benzinga’s ultimate morning update AND a free gift card of $30 and more!
“You have to look at companies that other people aren’t looking at,” Lynch told CNBC.
There were also some companies that he did not look closely enough at. He suggested that one of his biggest mistakes was to overlook Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Options 101: The Beginner’s Guide
Want to become an options master? In his free reportoptions expert Nic Chahine will give you access to four bulletproof tips for beginnersthe secret to achieved 511% gain with options, and his time-tested “plan” for success. Grab your free copy of Options 101: The Beginner’s Guide ASAP.
He noted that Warren Buffett was able to see the explosive growth opportunity in Apple, but he missed it even though he saw his daughter spend $250 on an iPod and figured the Cupertino-based company probably had big margins on the music device.
Lynch said he knew Apple had a clean balance sheet and regrets not doing more homework on the name.
“Apple wasn’t that hard to understand. I mean, how stupid was I?”
Check This Out: If You Invested $1,000 in Apple Stock When Steve Ballmer Criticized the iPhone $500, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now
Another name he missed was Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA). It’s been a “huge stock,” Lynch said: “I wish I could say that.”
He also can’t figure out how to pronounce crypto, he said with a laugh. Lynch noted that he “has no idea” what he’s going to come up with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).
He said he understands the underlying framework of blockchain, and he even noted that he is aware that a halving is on the horizon. But he doesn’t own any Bitcoin or Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), he said.
AAPL, NVDA Price action: Apple shares are up more than 26% so far this year. Nvidia is up more than 80% since the start of the year.
Apple was down 0.25% at $164.91 and Nvidia was down 1.92% at $265.25 at the time of writing, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read next: Analysts question Nvidia’s valuation after company earns less than 20% of Meta’s profits in 2022
Photo via Shutterstock.
