Value Investing: A Balanced Approach (Frontiers in Finance Series) [Paperback]

Martin J. Whitman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471398101 | ISBN-13: 978-0471398103 | Publication Date: September 22, 2000 | Edition: 1

"Essential reading for anyone in today's turbulent markets." -Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean, Yale School of Management

Praise for MARTIN J. WHITMAN and VALUE INVESTING

"An excellent book on 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.

"A must read for all thoughtful investors interested in a rational, disciplined, risk-averse template for successful long-term compounding." -O. Mason Hawkins, CFA, Chairman and CEO, Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. and The Longleaf Partners Funds

"This author knows whereof he speaks. His many years of extremely successful experience as a professional manager 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 and a reference book on how to think and feel like an owner of a business without the headache of running it day to day." -Papkens Der Torossian, Chairman and CEO, Silicon Valley Group, Inc.

"Marty Whitman is renowned for his uncanny instincts and insights in picking bargains in stocks and bonds. His book 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

Please visit our Web site at www.wileyfinance.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book has a lot and I recommend it. It is remarkably well written for a book on finance and, perhaps most importantly, easily comprehensible."(Investment Adviser, 22 January 2001)

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471398101
• ISBN-13: 978-0471398103
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointment, March 19, 2005

By 

Whippet "voracious reader" - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Value Investing: A Balanced Approach (Frontiers in Finance Series) (Paperback)

Whitman is brilliant, but as a writer he suffers from some serious defects. Chief among them is his obsession with proving academics wrong. Rather than write much on how he thinks through and makes real-world investments, he spends most of his ink distinguishing value investing from Efficient Market Theory and Graham-and-Doddism. It gets old, and dull. And he constantly qualifies his statements with "probably", "would seem", and so on, and undermines himself. The writing also utterly lacks any sense of humor. Finally, I was disappointed that Whitman--who is an astute and detail-oriented investor--did not include more case examples, with financials, to show his reasoning and method at work.

His first outing, The Aggressive Conservative Investor, is better in many ways, but is still turgidly written.

Given Whitman's talents, track record and reputation for smarts, this is a real let-down.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, if you can understand it, August 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Value Investing: A Balanced Approach (Frontiers in Finance Series) (Paperback)

This is a fair book written by an outstanding investor. Marty Whitman has practiced value investing successfully for many years, and his writings draw on his vast experience. However, unlike Buffett, he isn't the most clear author in the world. His writing is a little obtuse, and devoid of examples that would illustrate his points. Nevertheless, if you can make your way through the writing, you will find a lot of extremely useful and interesting information. I would recommend this book, but to understand it the reader should have a good working knowledge of financial terminology and an understanding of other value investing techniques and perspectives. If you read (and understand) some other books on value investing, plus maybe a few of Mr. Whitman's Third Avenue Value Fund shareholder letters, I think you will find this book invaluable.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Odd book - who is it aimed at?, March 17, 2004

By 

Marc Thatcher (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Value Investing: A Balanced Approach (Frontiers in Finance Series) (Paperback)

Couple of odd things about this book. First is Whitman's invention of acronyms to refer to simple concepts (such as minority investors) which makes the book more confusing to read than it needs to be. Bigger problem however is it is unclear to me who is supposed to read it. The first 200 pages are a rant against the efficient market hypothesis, investment banker fees and a couple of other topics interspersed with a basic overview of markets. Last 30 pages are an advanced discussion on distressed security investing (one of the author's many talents) and dividend policy.

I was bored for 200 pages & interested for 30. Others would be the other way round. Very odd.