The Market Gurus: Stock Investing Strategies You Can Use From Wall Street's Best [Hardcover]

John Reese (Author), Todd Glassman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

Validea.com, a Web site that ranks and evaluates stock-picking professionals based on the performance of their ideas, is the first comprehensive, ongoing effort to hold investment gurus accountable.

Now, for the first time, individuals can explore each guru and his methodology and apply that methodology to their own investing decisions. John Reese and Todd Glassman, experts in computerized investment decision making, take readers through the ins and outs of financial strategies developed by the crème de la crème of the industry-stars such as Peter Lynch, Warren Buffett, David Dreman, and James O'Shaughnessy. Along the way, readers will learn: *Time-tested methods to help make smarter investing decisions *How to use Validea.com to research questions and interpret the information from this book *Financial ratios explained in layman's terms that can be used to put newfound knowledge to work right away

Validea.com has undertaken the monster task of tracking the picks and pans of virtually every leading stock advisor. The information outlined by Reese and Glassman extends Validea.com a step further with a critical and insightful look at the world's most highly regarded investment strategies.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

It seems that for every investment option there are 10 experts telling you where to put your money. In response to this glut of insight, successful businessmen Reese and Glassman thought it necessary to isolate and analyze nine of those experts, among them Peter Lynch, Martin Zweig, and the Motley Fool. The authors not only explore each investor's strategy for success but also apply their own investment tools as found on their Web site, Validea.com. Each profile includes a brief bio, a step-by-step breakdown of that person's methodology, and case studies using extensive charts and statistics, concluding with a summary of the investor's key investing criteria. Although the book would be most helpful to those with some investing experience--market jargon throughout might deter some newbies--the final chapter, "The Famous Ratios," will serve as a handy reference for those who don't know their PEs from their ROEs. Overall, this is a helpful, well-researched survey of different but effective investment strategies. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

John Reese -- John Reese is chairman and cofounder of Validea.com, which has been recognized as one of the leading Web syndicators of unique financial products and tools. Previously, he founded and operated-and later sold-a successful high-tech business. He holds a bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard University. Todd Glassman -- Todd Glassman was Validea.com's investment strategies product manager and first employee; he is now an independent consultant. Previously, he worked in the engineering and banking industries and on Wall Street. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and has passed the Series 7 (Registered Representative) exam.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dearborn Trade; 1st edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793145953
• ISBN-13: 978-0793145959
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,056,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed analysis of various strategies, May 15, 2002

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Market Gurus: Stock Investing Strategies You Can Use From Wall Street's Best (Hardcover)

Confused with all the "expert" advice available on investing? Why does there seem to be so many different views and different ideas on how to best invest? Of course risk is one of the biggest factors as is how much time you are willing to put into analysis each day. Some people are comfortable with a lot of risk if the potential reward is a really large gain, others are not. Some enjoy watching the stock tape cross their computer screen all day long and watching their investments, others are to content to watch their investment progress on a monthly basis.

Reese and Glassman examine the most respected investment advisors today and detail not only their philosophy but also the level of risk the investor should be comfortable with and the level of effort the investor needs to put forth to follow that person's advice.
Each expert is analyzed one at a time including the criteria they use for investing, how they determine if a stock meets that criteria or not and examples of individual stocks with an analysis of where they pass and fail the selected criteria. The analysis is detailed and yet straight forward so that someone with minimal experience in stocks can understand the basis philosophy.

Who are these investors that are analyzed? Only the most revered names in stock investng: Peter Lynch, Benjamin Graham, William O'Neil, Warren Buffett, The Motley Fool, David Dreman, Martin Zweig, Kenneth L. Fisher, and James O'Shaughnessy.

Most of the experts selected have written their own books on how to invest. This book distills down all the fluff and long winded information in the other books to a single chapter on each advisor, a chapter with all the information required to follow that person's style. So, I guess you have a choice, buy several books and read them all or buy this one and get all the knowledge as well as a detailed step by step plan of how to follow their investing style. Complete analysis (even on those who have not written a book), risk profile information, detailed examples of how to apply the methods, and simple pass/fail criterion information, the information is complete, easy to understand and easy to apply, there is nothing not to like about this book! If you are an investor or want to try your hand at it or have a self-directed IRA or similar instrument then you owe it to yourself to read this book, select at least a style that is appropriate for you and apply it.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good reference, but not a tutorial, January 20, 2006

By 

Ruslan Moskalenko "Ruslan Moskalenko" (Pleasanton, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Market Gurus: Stock Investing Strategies You Can Use from Wall Street's Best (Paperback)

This book is tricky. It gives you a decent overview of some of the best stock investors, who they are and what they've done. It also gives you some quotes and some ideas they've been using and it's easy to get convinced it tells you how they were picking their investments. But it's not that simple.. There are a few reasons to be carefull.

1. Sometimes the information is based on second hand interpretation (like Buffet never really explained his approach)
2. Even when you read the original works quoted in the book, they are usually full of exceptions and warnings, so the book tends to oversimplify things and pull them out of context.
3. If those great investors could fully explain their winning strategy, everyone would probably be following that method and enjoying similar results. But since we don't see followers of some particular approach dominating the market, probably some personal outstanding characteristics and maybe luck are playing some role and this is not something you can pass through a book.

So treat this book as a catalog of a few prominent investors featuring some highlights of their techniques. But if you lime any of them, don't rely just on the breif description in the book. You should do you own research and make sure you've got enough information to make your own decision.

Overall, this is a well written book with enough useful information to make it worth reading.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great guide for novice investors, March 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Market Gurus: Stock Investing Strategies You Can Use From Wall Street's Best (Hardcover)

I am a novice investor and am still fairly new to this territory. Until I read this book, I didn't really have a structured investing style and wasn't sure what to look for when buying a stock. My techniques were pretty arbitrary, usually investing in stocks through word of mouth not knowing whether they were REALLY good or if it was just hype. This book practically holds your hand and shows you how the experts evaluate a stock step-by-step. Am I an expert now? No, but I have the knowledge of legends like Graham, Fisher, and Zweig to guide me along and help me make more intelligent and wise investing decisions.