Customer Reviews

Fisher Investments on Energy (Fisher Investments Press)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book covers the energy sector but it should be re-titled "Fisher Investments on Oil" because this is what the majority of the book is about. It covers some natural gas and coal fundamentals but only to a small extent, mostly delving into how these are driven by regional factors and not global factors.

The first 60 pages goes over the oil fundamentals and the different types of companies out there (exploration, service companies, etc.), what the difference between upstream and downstream are, which are most sensitive to the price of oil and which are more stable with respect to stock price volatility, what are dayrates for rigs, etc. If you don't know the basics, its actually a very good tutorial and even a good review if you do now the fundamental. But then, like a lot of other books, it repeats itself for the next 60 pages by breaking down the oil industry subsectors and once again going over the same fundamentals stated in the first 60 pages. But there is nothing on how to value the companies or rate the companies with respect to performance

With the rest of the book you get facts here and there about natural gas and coal. You also get a quick look at the new energy sources (solar, wind, etc.) and why they won't work, at least not right away. Then in the final 1/4 of the book you get a tutorial about benchmarking against an index, how to do top-down analysis to bet which way the sector will move, etc. If you've read a Ken Fisher book before, its basically a pitch for his stock picking method,but at least without any ads for his firm.

If you know absolutely nothing about oil, oil services, rigs, etc., then this easy to read book (can easily read in a day) is a great intro to oil and would probably rate 4 stars instead. If you already now enough to understand half of what is said during an oil company conference call, then there probably aren't enough specifics here to be that interesting and it is too much overview; you are better off just looking things up on the web or reading through a 10-K,

This is a good introduction to the energy business. Without being redundant, you can read the product information above, and the other reviewed comments.

I just finished reading the book today and found a wealth of good information which one needs to know if you are going to invest in this business. If you know ( or think you know) all about the oil/gas business then take a pass.

For me, understanding "up/mid/down" stream businesses and all the pieces that work together was very helpful. The book covers world hydrocarbon reserves, who has it/who doesn't. Want to know about oil sands/oil shale.. it's here just for starters. Just a good.. easy to read/understandable book.