Definition of 'Tenbagger'

Definition of 'Tenbagger'

A stock whose value increases 10 times its purchase price. This expression was coined by Peter Lynch, one of the greatest investors of all time, in his book "One Up On Wall Street" (1989).

Investopedia explains 'Tenbagger'

These types of returns are considered once-in-a-lifetime investments. Some of the most famous examples of tenbaggers include now blue-chip stocks like Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard and General Electric. Many investors are constantly in search of the elusive tenbagger, but there isn't an exact science to discover tenbagger stocks. Generally, these explosive companies are smaller companies (market cap under $1 billion) with large potential markets. Over time, these companies grow into their potential markets, providing patient investors with handsome returns.

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Where did the term "tenbagger" originate?

On February 15, 1989, Peter Lynch's investing book, "One Up On Wall Street", made its debut. At the core of the book was a call to arms for individual investors. Lynch believed that individual investors could outperform highly educated Wall Street stock pickers by keeping their eyes open during their daily life and learning basic research skills. Lynch pointed out that, as consumers, workers, mothers and fathers, individual investors are much closer to the market than the people in Wall Street's ivory towers. When new products are introduced or new businesses opened up, consumers get first-hand information that Wall Street firms wait months for analysts to come up with.

Lynch explained that once a stock becomes noticeable enough to make the institutional approved list, most of the gains have already happened. He coined the term tenbagger to describe a stock that returns ten times the money that you put into it and gave numerous examples of ten, twenty, and even fortybaggers that individual investors could've spotted before Wall Street jumped in. These include everything from Dunkin' Donuts, Wal-Mart, The Limited and Stop & Shop. Lynch showed that Wall Street funds came in late on the majority of multi-baggers, seeing only a small percentage of the overall gains.

Boiled down to two precepts, "One Up On Wall Street" tells investors to invest where they have an edge in knowledge and keep up with the "story" of their stocks. Lynch didn't want investors to blindly buy companies that they encountered in their daily lives, but he suggested that those companies were the best place to start looking for great stocks rather than searching in an industry that they knew nothing about. He also emphasized the need to create a storyline for a company and keep up with any changes in that story so that investors can eliminate the market noise before deciding to buy or sell. The mixture of real world examples and practical advice made Lynch's book a classic and it continues to be a source of inspiration and instruction for individual investors today.

For more, read Pick Stocks Like Peter Lynch.

This question was answered by Andrew Beattie.

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