Rating: 
Summary: One of the Classics
Review: Haven't finished the 3rd edition yet, but I couldn't wait to comment here. The naysayers reflect the general state of the market, as well as anything else does. I can relate. I feel your pain. I started canslim exactly at the market top and have nil to show for it in 2 1/2 years except for the account I started with. 0% increase. Pretty horrible performance eh? Well what do you think of having 160% of the returns of the S&P500, or how about 440% of the performance of the nasdaq? Or of outperforming 99% of the diversified mutual funds and other money managers out there that are joined at the hip with the averages? That's what O'Neils cash position would net you, and that's why it IS a good system in these bad times. What have the returns been with your system? My estimation is that only those glued to the screen fulltime, flipping short term positions have anything positive to show for the last couple years. That is their dayjob. This is not a system for the full time trader, although there's not a good one out there that isn't very familiar with it. It is, I think, the best hope for lots of part time investors that have not fallen for the terrible buy, hold, and pray method preached in the mainstream. For the rest there's no hope. Their accounts are already mostly gone and unlikely to return in their lifetimes. For such a little book, it does an incredible job of covering the critical aspects of fundamental and technical analysis and should set ones thinking straight on basic trend following, stock selection, market timing, chart price and volume reading, loss cutting, entries and exits. It is for the mainstream but only those willing to give the moderate work required. Those here complaining that you need the IBD paper to make it work seem to think we should be able to buy a [edit $]book and then go collect a $million the next day. How utterly childish. You can definitely apply the principles without the paper using other resources and tools. The paper will just cut the time needed to do so by tenfold. Don't be fooled. This takes some work. And to complain that it doesn't cover shorting, or options or whatever, is to complain that it doesn't cover the care and feeding of ones horse. This is a fundamental book on intermediate term trading. The trading world is enormous, it is unavoidably imprecise and difficult. And yes, I don't agree with everything WJO says. I like using real stops, and I'm perplexed that he doesn't apply his market timing to mutual funds (though he does say to buy more when their cheap). This book offers as sound a set of timeless principles as one can find, if there are any in the market. You won't be able to give up your job this year with this book. But should the markets again offer some opportunity on the long side, a reasonable assumption, then this book can help you recognize it and benefit far better than the vast majority will. Meanwhile, you'll leave your cash safe and find something else to do. Like maybe work for a living? And what better time to study and prepare for that new bull, but when it hasn't begun yet. Don't make my mistake and start learning at the top. Take your lesson now. Your investing education is incomplete if you don't read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: OK But not the best
Review: Some great words of wisdom and this man obviously knows his stocks but as a stand alone trading system.. it's not going to help you.
CANSLIM is a great method... in a roaring bull market. 1997 to 2000 was you opportunity to make a killing. It's gone and so has CANSLIM. It still works but you have to make changes. The markets are always changing and you must find a system that adapts with those changes.
Rating: 
Summary: Hasn't made any money for me
Review: After losing my shirt (literally) in a bad trade back in 95, I became a disciple of O'Neil's CAN-SLIM system in order to become a disciplined stock investor/trader. I followed all his rules, such as only buy stocks that have excellent fundamentals (as rated in his newspaper, Investor's Business Daily), that have recently made new highs, and that have good institutional sponsorship. I also followed the exit rules. Needless to say, I missed all the big money-making opportunities in the late 90s. In fact, I only earned meager returns on my "sound fundamentals" portfolio, and when the bubble burst, my portfolio took a plunge, wiping out all my profits. The only thing I can laugh about is all my friends are down 80+% with their tech-ladden holdings. But, dude, if I had put the money in T-bills, I would have earned much higher returns, and wasted much, much less time on "research," than with O'Neil's painstaking approach. Having made no money in stocks over the last 10 years, I do feel like a sore loser. Rationally speaking, I now believe the stock market is at best a random walk and at worst a sham. Investors of all ages should stay away and invest in bonds and real estate instead. Forget what I just said, invest in bonds only.
Rating:
Summary: Lacks depth
Review: This book gives excellent common sense advice. Advice that many thought unnecessary in the 90's, but which has become very relevant during the past few years. One shortcomng of this book is that is does not show the reader how to use options to make his/her investments even safer. After absorbing the author's suggestions, read THE SHORT BOOK ON OPTIONS to find out how reduce the risk of stock ownership, yet still remain profitable.
Rating: 
Summary: Advertisement for IBD...
Review: This book is an obvious attempt at advertising. Every chart, graph and almost every paragraph has a reference to IBD. To utilize the techniques set forth in this book you must subscribe to IBD. Like most late night infomercials, get rich quick schemes and the like there is something that just doesnt seem right.I can pretty much assume that people who invested in this book also invest the same way. They didnt read the company news or in this case read the book a little in the store. Thus they became a lump sum investor with out any research and lost there money on this investment. The only person to make money here was William J. O'Neil. Investing is like a baby born in the ghetto. If you nurture it and monitor it then it will prosper but if you leave it alone to the wolves then you end up with a loser. People who invest and lose money do so because of hasty judgements, hesitation and greed. Do the opposite which would be: careful calculated stock picks, Know when to sell and buy and stick to your guns, and relish in small profits over [a period of time]. Every trade , every decision and every move must be calculated for risk, market climate, third party knowledge and gauge this against your greed and own needs. Then decide is this what I should do. If you dont know what I have said then you will certianly lose a lot. This isnt my stock picking method its ... commmon sense mixed with intelligence. Oh and one more thing..
Rating:
Summary: Advertisement for IBD...Real price of book is : $ 231.95
Review: This book may be helpful to you "if" you subscribe to Investors Business Daily otherwise the book is useless. Every other page refers to a graph or chart that comes from IBD. In order to utilize his techniques you need IBD. A Subscription to IBD costs [$$$] for the year and his book costs [$$$]. Thats [$$$] without tax. Nonetheless I presume if you have a subscription to IBD then this book will suit you fine otherwise subscribe or find a book that isnt just a obvious attempt at advertising.
Rating: 
Summary: Complete Strategy
Review: Great book to either start your stock analysis or finish any half baked theories you may have. Make no mistake, the text is VERY CONDENSED from an experienced professional. Thus, if you have patience, read it several times after experimenting with the method. The CANSLIM strategy is very obivious and easy to understand system. It has been around since 1988, so be very careful in application--the signals it generates can easily be predicted and countered by other professionals. However, if you understand the markets, the fundamental factors that make a stock attractive are timeless and universal, so even if MM fade the stock at your buy point, strict stop loss and a review of your entry should correct your mistakes as you become more experienced with the method. This book and others claim a 30-40% success selection rate coupled with proper money management can make you significant MONEY. I concur, but your experience with the method may vary. If you find the method did not work for you, either do a post mortem to see which CANSLIM factor you missed, or drop the method.
Rating:
Summary: A great education based on historical facts, not hope
Review: A must read in order to learn what really makes a stock move up or down in price, how to manage your money, how to pick a stock, and when to buy and sell. I highly recommend this book, even if you don't end up following the CAN SLIM method of investing (the method detailed in this book). CAN SLIM is a highly selective method of choosing stocks: only those with top fundamentals and that are surging to new price highs make the cut. You could almost say the fundamentals give you the "who" and the technical data give you the "when". One thing to keep in mind is that O'Neil constantly refers to solid data and research - not just theories he's baked up. In that sense this is not a "system" or theory. It's a method of conforming to the most successful historical models. True, this is not an all-encompassing book with all the details on shorts, options, etc. But that's not the point of the book - in fact he strongly warns against those instruments ("an investor should learn how to reduce their risk, not increase it"). This book has made me a big fan of CAN SLIM and Investor's Business Daily (IBD). The two work hand in hand. The best thing a beginning investor can do is get IDB and read this book. IBD uses a rating system that boils down dozens of data points to a simple grade or number - and O'Neil's book explains all of this. Learning to cut your stock losses early will alone save you orders of magnitude beyond the price of this book. I have to say as well that the third edition is much better than the second! Another reviewer incorrectly explained O'Neil's mutual fund strategy. The point I think O'Neil is trying to make is don't worry about timing the market with your mutual funds, and when you see that the market is down, buy more! His stock trading ideas are quite different than that, but I'll let you discover those.
Rating:
Summary: Step back and think...
Review: before you leap to O'Niel's methods. The fewer books that you have read about making money in the stock market, the less critical you will be of O'Niel's ideas. I've only read a dozen or so, but it's been enough to raise some significant cautionary issues. First, I'm not convinced that people can actually see the classic patterns in charts that O'Niel and other chartists claim are evident. Recognition of patterns _in_retrospect_ is meaningless; if there's a reliable quantitative method to recognize patterns while they evolve, I expect that the owner of this technology would keep the method to themselves as long as possible. Advantages that the chartists claim would tend to lose their power as they become widely known, but only if they really work. If they don't work, there's no reason not to publish the methods widely. A lot of this book shows readers how to use the information in IBD, O'Niel's daily newspaper. Despite my reservations, this book contains lots of interesting and useful ideas. It's up to the reader to weigh the many sources of information and interpretations of meaning in this book. The book is no substitute for the reader's new ideas and the successful mixing and interpretation of the ideas in this and other books. Eventual synthesis of a winning strategy still requires aptitude, hard work, and experience - despite this book's title claim.
Rating:
Summary: A poorly written book by a long timer with confused thoughts
Review: From his book (the one I have is the 2nd edition), I know O'neil doesn't think when he writes. And that makes me doubt if he thinks at all. (1)His explanation of cup-with-handle, double bottom, and other patterns is ridiculously insufficient (the worst I've ever seen). He thinks anytime is the best time to buy mutual funds, which I find is too simplistic (p134). (2)His writing style is strange. For example, on page 119-120, he lists more than 30 stocks which rose many times in price, but without much explanation. From page 144 to 158, he lists 113 graphs without explanation!!! (3)He gives 36 scenarios which he calls prime selling pointers (p103-106)! How can readers (and O'neil himself actually) remember and understand all these 36 PRIME situations? The result of giving too many guidelines is the same as giving no guideline at all. (4)His thinking and materials are definitely outdated. His method is like alchemy: no complete system of trading and thinking, highly limited and simplistic. Just think about recent three years (2000-2002), how can his CANSLIM theory help you? His treatment of short selling is simply inadequate. O'neil wrote this book to promote his newpaper. I think it would be a waste of time and money to get involved with his CANSLIM system.
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