I'm familiar with the Buffet method -- sorta. They have calculators on quicken.com that will do an analysis of the stock with the Buffet method.

I confess that formulas make my lil' eyeballs cross.

I like the takeover announcement idea, and will start looking at the news to see if I can spot something (and mention it here so we can all 'practice' and learn.)

I did learn to take financial advisors' advice with a grain of salt, but I need to set 'sell' limits on stuff. My first purchase (recommended in a magazine) was Schwab. And when it dropped to 40% of my purchase price, I said 'enough is enough' and sold it. I think it's a decent company, but I don't want that money tied up in a value-losing stock now.