How dumb I was! When Peter Lynch regretted not buying Warren Buffett's favourite stock whose product his daughter used

Veteran American investor Peter Lynch is known for his invaluable stock market lessons, but even the expert once regretted not buying a stock which is Warren Buffett's favourite, and whose product his own daughter had bought.

The former Fidelity Magellan fund manager in 2023 had revealed that he wished he had not missed out on the explosive growth opportunity in iPhone-maker Apple. "Apple was not that hard to understand. I mean, how dumb was I?" he told CNBC, adding that the iPhone maker had a nice balance sheet as well.

Lynch noted during his interview that he should have done some work on Apple, as it was not a complicated company. He recounted that his daughter had bought an iPod for $250 at the time and he recalled thinking Apple was making a high margin on it. Yet he didn't buy the stock, leaving him with regret later in life.


Warren Buffett's Apple bet

Peter Lynch acknowledged that legendary investor Warren Buffett saw Apple's potential and made huge profits from it. Buffett first bought Apple shares in 2016, and it has grown into Berkshire's single biggest position.

Apple has turned out to be one of Buffett's most successful bets in his illustrious career. In a recent interview, Buffett in fact regretted selling some Apple stake. The shares of the iPhone-maker have gained over 49% in a year and 108% in five years.

Also read | Warren Buffett admits to a rare mistake with these 2 big tech stock bets


Apart from Apple, Peter Lynch also regretted not buying Nvidia shares earlier. "Nvidia has been a huge stock I wish I could pronounce it," Lynch joked during his interaction with CNBC in 2023.

Peter Lynch tells investors where they can find tenbaggers

Notably, the author of the popular book 'One Up on Wall Street' regretting not buying Apple shares, despite his daughter using an iPod, is noteworthy because he himself advocated buying shares of a company whose product an investor uses. In his book, Lynch had said that the best place to begin looking for a tenbagger is close to home, focusing on what investors use regularly, be it new clothing brands, dining places, theatres and more. However, investors must assess how the company is doing and its prospects well before taking any such decision.

"Investing without research is like playing stud poker and never looking at the cards," he wrote in his book. In The Compound and Friends podcast with Josh Brown, Lynch said he does not invest in AI as he does not understand the technology enough to have an informed opinion on the market's optimism toward AI. "I am the lowest tech guy ever. I cannot do anything with computers. I just have yellow pads," he said.

Lynch has consistently advocated that investors must have a proper understanding of what the companies do before investing in them. It is in fact one of the core principles of his popular book 'One Up on Wall Street'. "I have this expression: 'Know what you own'. If you don't understand what you own, you are toast," he said.

Also read | Peter Lynch does not like the AI trade; here's why he says 'Know what you own'


The market veteran quipped that people spend hours researching flights to ensure they get the best price. But when it comes to investing, "they will put $10,000 in some crazy stock they heard on the bus".

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)