There are five basic ways a company can increase earnings*: reduce costs; raise prices; expand into new markets; sell more of its product in the old … - Peter Lynch

Corporate profits will be a lot higher 10 years from now. They'll be a lot higher 20 years from now. That's what you can rely on. Microsoft didn't exist 20 years ago. Staples didn't exist 20 years ago—Federal Express didn't exist 20 years ago. New companies will come along. That's what makes stocks go up.

One obvious sell signal is that inventories are building up and the company can’t get rid of them, which means lower prices and lower profits down the road. I always pay attention to rising inventories. When the parking lot is full of ingots, it’s certainly time to sell the cyclical. In fact, you may be a little late.

The great joke is that the next time is never like the last time, and yet we can’t help readying ourselves for it anyway. This all reminds me of the Mayan conception of the universe.