Value Investing: A Balanced Approach - Hardcover

Whitman, Martin J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471162922 ISBN 13: 9780471162926

Publisher: Wiley, 1999

Synopsis

Provides a modern analytical framework for assessing a company's true value

Written by a true value investor known for his ability to buy undervalued companies and re-sell them at a substantial profit, Value Investing provides an analytical framework that evaluates the impact of real events-including restructuring, regulations, mergers and acquisitions, and other important factors-on a company's value.

Well-known for his success with distressed corporations and value investing, author Martin Whitman wages a controversial attack on the modern financial practice of focusing on price movements and short-term trading. In Value Investing, Whitman identifies fundamental factors affecting the value of companies and entire markets from the ground up and takes value investing one step further by demonstrating how industry movement and public policy decisions can lead to greater returns. He also highlights the shortcomings of all the popularly applied analytical techniques.

About this title

About the Author

MARTIN J. WHITMAN, CFA, is Chairman, CEO, and portfolio manager of the successful Third Avenue Value Fund and the Third Avenue Small Cap Value Fund. A leader in value investing, he is a Management Fellow at the Yale University School of Management.

From the Back Cover

"An excellent book in investments. But, more importantly, this volume is a primer explaining to Main Street, especially Main Street businesspeople, how Wall Street really operates." - Eugene M. Isenberg, Chairman of the Board, Nabors Industries, Inc.

"Value Investing: A Balanced Approach is a must read for all thoughtful investors interested in a rational, disciplined, risk-averse template for successful long-term compounding. Bravo, Marty." - O. Mason Hawkins, CFA, Chairman, and CEO, Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. and The Longleaf Partners Fund

"This author knows whereof he speaks. His many years of extremely successful experience as a professional manger of investments, his academic training, and his period of teaching at a major university all make their mark on this illuminating volume. It reveals how a bright, analytically minded person with extensive practical experience studies and evaluates investments." - William J. Baumol, Professor and Director, C.V. Starr Center, NYU, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University

"This book by an experienced and practicing master, Martin Whitman, is a treasure amd a reference book on how to think and feel like an owner of a business without the headache of running it day to day." - Papken S. Der Torossian, Chairman and CEO, Silicon Valley Group, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

"Marty Whitman is one of the country's savviest investors but also a great intellect. This book, the outgrowth of his teaching at Yale School of Management, is essential reading for anyone in today's turbulent markets." - Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management

An in-depth look at the modern realities of valuing companies, this comprehensive resource offers an antidote to conventional "ivory tower" financial theories. Value Investing shows investors how to use the same valuation techniques as are used in private business and by control investors. It replaces the practice of excessive price watching with a "bottom-up" approach to corporate analysis. Written by seasoned investor Martin Whitman, the book delivers a proven approach to what is a fruitful, yet potentially dangerous venture.

With clear explanations and straightforward guidelines, Whitman gives investors the tools necessary to fully understand and capitalize on the key to successful value investing: accurately valuing a business or valuing the workout potential of troubled companeis. Beginning with a description of what exactly value investing is, Whitman compares it with other investment disciplines, such as academic finance, Graham & Dodd fundamentalism, and conventional research "as it seems to be practiced by most 'sell' side analysts employed by broker/dealer research departments as well as most 'buy' side analysts who manage money."

The key concepts of value investing are then discussed, including corporate valuation, the substantive characteristics of securities, capital structure, promoters' and professionals' compensations, and the uses and limitations of financial accounting and narrative disclosure. Value Investing provides an analytic framework for evaluating the impact of real world factors, such as public policy and regulation, mergers and acquisitions, government and corporate finance, restructuring troubled companies, stockholder litigation, corporate power plays, and corporate share repurchase.

Thorough, accessible, and practical, Value Investing is essential reading for anyone seeking a well-rounded overview of this important topic.

"Marty Whitman is renowned for his uncanny instincts and insights in picking bargains in stocks and bonds. His book, "Value Investing: A Balanced Approach", is a real bargain. To benefit from decades of Marty's experience is invaluable and to have such a commonsense and realistic approach is an extra dividend." - Milton Cooper, Chairman, Kimco Realty Corporation

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471162922
• ISBN 13: 9780471162926
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296