Product Description

With nearly a million copies sold, Security Analysis has been continuously in print for more than sixty years. No investment book in history had either the immediate impact, or the long-term relevance and value, of its first edition in 1934. By 1951, seventeen years past its original publication and more than a decade beyond its revised and acclaimed 1940 second edition, authors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd had seen business and investment markets travel from the depths of Depression to the heights of recovery, and had observed investor behavior during both the calm of peacetime and the chaos of World War II.

The prescient thinking and insight displayed by Graham and Dodd in the first two editions of Security Analysis reached new heights in the third edition. In words that could just as easily have been written today as fifty years ago, they detail techniques and strategies for attaining success as individual investors, as well as the responsibilities of corporate decision makers to build shareholder value and transparency for those investors.

The focus of the book, however, remains its timeless guidance and advice--that careful analysis of balance sheets is the primary road to investment success, with all other considerations little more than distractions. The authors had seen and survived the Great Depression as well as the political and financial instabilities of World War II and were now better able to outline a program for sensible and profitable investing in the latter half of the century.

Security Analysis: The Classic 1951 Edition marks the return of this long-out-of-print work to the investment canon. It will reacquaint you with the foundations of value investing--more relevant than ever in tumultuous twenty-first century markets--and allow you to own the third installment in what has come to be regarded as the most accessible and usable title in the history of investment publishing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8225 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 770 pages

From the Back Cover

The Book that Launched Value Investing, with Guidance and Insights that Stand the Test of Time

Security Analysis: The Classic 1951 Edition provides a rare glimpse into the fundamental building blocks of modern value investing, with insights and strategies for the modern individual investor that are as valuable today as they were more than half a century ago. It brings Benjamin Graham's proven methods for measuring asset values and cash flows, still the centerpiece of value investing worldwide, to today's investment professionals.

Focused on common stocks as a sound investment alternative for individual investors, this classic volume features:

• Expanded material on stockholder-management relations--vitally important in today's era of improved corporate governance and stockholder empowerment
• A step-by-step process for understanding income and balance sheets, and their direct relationship to future stock price appreciation
• Historically proven guidelines for recognizing, and capitalizing on, profitable opportunities in secondary, little-known issues

In the search for stocks poised to beat the market, basic techiques and strategies still work the best. Security Analysis: The Classic 1951 Edition shows you how to look beyond market noise and confusion to find undervalued stocks, and assemble a diversified portfolio that will provide you with outstanding profits today and in the years to come.

About the Author

Benjamin Graham is widely acknowledged to be the father of modern security analysis. The founder of the value school of investing and founder and former president of the Graham-Newman corporation investment fund, he taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business from 1928 through 1957. Graham popularized the examination of price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios, debt-to-equity ratios, divident records, book values, and earnings growth, and he also wrote the popular investors' guide The Intelligent Investor.

David Dodd was a colleague of Benjamin Graham's at Columbia University, where he was an assistant professor of finance.

Customer Reviews

Very bad copy quality
While the fly on this text touts the fact that this edition is photocopied from the original text, the process did not work. The text copy is fuzzy and blurred making it hard to read. This process was not disclosed in the Amazon summaries available for purchase decision which I find troubling. I would not recommend this text.

A Must Read
This is the a must read for any investors. It is, however, quite difficult for beginners to comprehend, though. At least I didn't understand it quite well until after I took Corporate Finance, Accounting, etc... and studied for my CFA exam.

I'd recommend beginners read Graham's "The Intelligent Investor", which help create a concrete basis of your investment philosophy.

Where are the Cliff Notes?!
I had to put this book down after skipping pages, sections, chapters, etc due to the academic writing style (way too wordy) and the vague examples/formulas. Like another reviewer I'd suggest that someone take all of the information in this book and boil it down to something easily readable with concrete examples. I've read tons of investing and educational texts and was bored to tears with this one but gave it 3 stars as I think there are some good nuggets buried in it. My most recent investing book was Rule #1 and it seemed like a very simplied version but an easy, understandable read, so maybe I'll wait for the Cliff Notes ;) I'm a trader/investor and don't need one on my shelf to "appear" smart...anyone want to buy my copy of this book?!