Product Description

"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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #147052 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

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)

Investment Adviser, 22 January 2001

"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."

O. Mason Hawkins, CFA, Chairman and CEO, Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. and The Longleaf Partners Funds
"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."

Customer Reviews

No insights on Whitman's experience with value investing; a lot on his obsession with academic finance
I have only read the introduction and Chapter 14--Restructuring Troubled Companies. My review is based on these two chapters.

I agree with the previous reviewers that the author is obsessed with attacking academic finance. He is aware of this: on page (xiii) he starts the book by saying "Many may view this book as a direct attack on academic finance; there is somehing direct to this view." Unfortunately, his attacks are based on issues that are at best irrelevant to value investing. Who cares if algebrea is needed read Brealey and Myers, but "for reading THIS (emphasis by the author) book" it is "useless." If anything, Brealey and Myers make it clear that understanding finance requires strong analytical skills.

On the other hand, more serious attacks are groundless. On page 215, author states "Scholars are way off base in four areas." He goes on to describe these four areas as follows. "They misdefine markets ... In attempting to ascertain the social value inherent in rehabilitating troubled companies, scholars tend strongly to think only in terms of value as measured by immediate market prices for outstanding securities...In thinking about values in reorganization, scholars tend to think in terms of cash values, not present values...Scholars seem to think that the costs of bankruptcy are huge, precluding many management from seeking Chapter 11 relief."

With respect to the first three issues, there is no scholar at a respectable academic instituiton and/or published at a respectable journal making these arguments. With respect to the fourth issue, the author continues by saying " The costs ARE (emphasis bby the author) huge, but they are borne by companies, not managements." So what the scholars "seem to think" (i.e. that the costs are huge) is not "off base" after all, as the author also agrees. On the other hand, the last sentence quoted above by Whitman also suggests as if some scholars are arguing that the costs are borne by management. Again, no scholar at a respectable academic instituiton and/or published at a respectable journal making these arguments. Perhaps the author is exposed to third tier journals and third tier academics only.

I am disappointed that despite his limited exposure to academic finance, Whitman is convinced that academics are of one mind. As with many professions and many issues, there is disagreement among academics on many issues as well. Sadly, the areas he quotes above are not even among those issues. I challenge Whitman to back up his statements above by citing the scholars he is talking about so that we can all know what study he has in mind.

Practioners have much to learn from the knowledge of academics and the academics have much to learn from the experience of practitioners. Unfortunately, the author's obsession with academics makes him both deaf and mute.

Disappointment
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.

Odd book - who is it aimed at?
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.