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How I Use IBD to Find Potential Winning Stocks 341

concepts very different from those you’re accustomed to hearing, seeing,
and using.
For example, according to our historical study of all the greatest winning
stocks, if you’d been relying on P/E ratios, you would have missed almost
every major winner for decades. The information in IBD is based on the
characteristics of the most successful companies of all time before their
major price moves. Following these valid model examples of success has
helped me and many others achieve success since the 1960s.
Investor’s Business Daily began in April 1984 with only 15,000 sub-
scribers. In the years prior to our launch, the Wall Street Journal grew
steadily to reach its peak of 2.1 million domestic circulation by our 1984
introduction date. Since that time, Investor’s Business Daily has increased
its market share over many years. In key high-population areas such as
southern California, Florida, and Long Island, New York, IBD has a larger
than normal number of readers. While many of our readers were former
Wall Street Journal subscribers, there is little current duplication of reader-
ship, since several surveys show that only 16% of IBD subscribers also take
the Journal.

How Investor’s Business Daily Is Different
So what is it exactly that distinguishes IBD from other sources? Let’s take a
closer look.
• IBD makes it easier to search for winning stocks. With more than
10,000 publicly traded stocks to choose from, IBD provides perfor-
mance lists and proven proprietary fundamental and technical ratings
and rankings that help you narrow your choices to only the very best
opportunities.
• It offers quicker, easier, and more accurate and reliable ways to
interpret the general market. The key elements of the day’s trading
action are explained in IBD’s “The Big Picture” column to give you a
sound perspective on the health of the overall market and improve your
timing of buy and sell decisions. In tough markets like 2000–2003 and
2007–2009, this is critical information.
• It provides you with valuable investing education and support.
IBD’s entire focus is on solid database research and extensive historical
model building to serve as examples—facts, not personal opinions. There
are a multitude of sources outlined in this chapter that can help you learn
and understand how the market really works, based on years of historical
precedent.