The biggest winners are surprises to me, and takeovers are even more surprising. It takes years, not months, to produce big results.

I spend about fifteen minutes a year on economic analysis.

If you can find a company that can get away with raising prices year after year without losing customers (an addictive product such as cigarettes fills the bill), you've got a terrific investment.

I talk to hundreds of companies a year and spend hour after hour in heady pow-wows with CEOs, financial analysts and my colleagues in the mutual-fund business, but I stumble onto the big winners in extracurricular situations, the same way you do.