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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Value Investing that Emphasizes Cash Flow, June 27, 2009
This review is from: F Wall Street: Joe Ponzio's No-Nonsense Approach to Value Investing For the Rest of Us (Paperback)
I'm certainly glad that the somewhat objectionable title did not dissuade me from reading this book. The title comes from the author's contention that the brokerage and mutual fund industry is driven by their own greed. Thus, their focus is primarily on sales rather than what should be their objective, namely identifying good investment opportunities that will enhance our investment returns. Although I have no disagreement with this viewpoint, I'm pleased to report that a relatively small portion of the book is devoted to this topic. Most of the book is a practical guide to value investing.
The primary thesis can be summarized as follows: "So the key to making long-term gains in the stock market is simple. Figure out which companies will grow and buy them at a cheap price." It is easy to agree with such an objective, but how do we do that? What distinguishes this book from the myriad value-oriented investing books now available is the author's emphasis on the importance of analyzing a company's cash flow characteristics. This is a welcomed viewpoint that transcends the traditional value investor's financial ratios of P/E, P/B, and P/S.
The author describes how Warren Buffett utilized the cash flow concept of owner earnings since the mid-1980s, even years before the cash flow statement became a required corporate quarterly financial reporting document. The author uses Enron to demonstrate the desirability of analyzing cash flows in lieu of reported earnings. The two primary analysis tools espoused by the author are "Cash Yield" and "Buy-and-Hold Valuation". Historical examples using Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, and Microsoft are helpful in answering the when to buy? and when to sell? questions. An additional benefit from this book are the interesting, common sensical insights in the areas of portfolio diversification and also "The Psychology That Will Drive Your Investment Success".
The improvements that would take the rating from four stars to five stars would be: (1) Less repetition of a few of the viewpoints provided; (2) Reduce the terminology confusion. For example, "Cash Yield" would be more appropriately termed as "Owner Earnings Yield". The same problem with clarity exists in use of the terms "Buy-and-Hold Valuation" and "Cash Return On Invested Capital"; and (3) Rather than relying solely on historical examples of how to identify buying and selling opportunities, it would also be even more useful to the reader if a specific example of how to use the tools to identify a current worthwhile investment opportunity was provided.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joe Ponzio Understands and Explains Buffett Better Than Others, July 1, 2009
This review is from: F Wall Street: Joe Ponzio's No-Nonsense Approach to Value Investing For the Rest of Us (Paperback)
Joe Ponzio's "F Wall Street" is a true achievement in clarity and investing wisdom. Over the past 14 years, I have read virtually every book or article or essay written by or about Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, and nothing captures the value-oriented, fundamentals driven "Focus Investing" approach of Buffett and Munger better than this well written and explained book. Ponzio, who fully gets the irony of his name being similar to the namesake of all pyramid schemes, knows of what he writes, having left high paying jobs on Wall Street disgusted with an industry that has lost any semblance of truly serving the average investor to start his own firm dedicated to providing honest, long-term financial advice to average and well-heeled investors.
Ponzio starts simple, explaining the integral parts of Buffett's "follow the cash" approach to screen truly good long-term businesses from weak ones, then goes on to nuts and bolts of how to properly value a business using discounted cash flow analysis -- all in accordance with Buffett and Munger's advice. He then goes on to analyze how to execute another favorite Buffett approach -- merger arbitrage or "workouts" -- in a way that makes this somewhat more advanced tactic accessible to the more ambitious individual investor.
What sets F Wall Street apart from other books is it's clear to read style, and its ability to boil down essential and somewhat complicated value-investing concepts into easy to understand principles -- much like Buffett himself in his annual letters to shareholders. But Ponzio is not just another commentator -- he is a true practitioner of Buffett's art, with a comparatively short-term (a few years) but so far impressive results in his portfolio based on the approaches espoused in the book. More on his portfolio can be seen on his blog[...]. The blog offers much of his principles for free and is worth visiting, but the book is well worth the price for bringing all the principles together in one place and bringing the reader through the base-logic all the way through the more advanced concepts in a logical progression.
In my view, having read all of the books on Buffett from Hagstrom to Mary Buffett to Lowenstein, this book does a better overall job of capturing the nuts and bolts of Buffett and Munger's approach, though the others are worth reading as well to round out one's knowledge of Focused Investing.
I am in no way affiliated with Joe Ponzio or his firm. I am simply very impressed with someone who has so well captured Buffett's "Focused Investing" approach, and shares Buffett's passion for educating his fellow man.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Gem of a Book!, July 8, 2009
This review is from: F Wall Street: Joe Ponzio's No-Nonsense Approach to Value Investing For the Rest of Us (Paperback)
I have read many books on investing; my favorites include Graham's Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis as well as Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits. This book ranks right there among them. In a clear, concise manner Mr. Ponzio takes the reader through the steps required to understand investing, value businesses, and purchase securities. Appropriate for beginning investors, but with valuable information for even the most seasoned- I highly recommend this book! If you are looking for a place to start learning about investing, purchase this book and Graham's Intelligent Investor. If you have read a ton of books about investing, you still need to read this book!
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