The Conscious Investor: Profiting from the Timeless Value Approach - Hardcover

Price, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470604387 ISBN 13: 9780470604380

Publisher: Wiley, 2010

Synopsis

An intriguing look at the full range of value methods brought together for the first time

The biggest block to success in the stock market is unconscious investing, or following the crowd without asking the right questions such as: “What is it really worth?” Even more fundamental is: “What rate of return can I confidently expect to get?” Without having the methods to answer these questions is like trying to sail a boat without a rudder.
The Conscious Investor covers each of the main methods used to calculate value or return in the stock market, along with descriptions of how and when to use them, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Interspersed throughout the methods are the timeless investment principles of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. The book:
·    Includes balance sheet methods, dividend discount methods, discounted cash flow methods, price ratio methods, and many others
·    Explains the significance of viewing real value as a combination of a stock’s price or market value and its intrinsic value
·    Comes with free access to key functions in the author’s Conscious Investor® software
The Conscious Investor is indispensable reading for everyone with an interest in investing in the stock market, from novices to experienced professionals. Using this book as your guide, you’ll quickly discover what it takes to be a conscious investor and gain more confidence in knowing what and when to buy, when to hold, and when to sell.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

The United States is experiencing "the worst financial crisis since the 1930s," according to George Soros. But you don't need one of the world's greatest investors to tell you what you already know. What would be useful is knowing how it is that he and other astute investors--Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, and Peter Lynch--made a great portion of their profits during times of extreme economic uncertainty. The short answer is: successful investors know which stocks to buy and when, as well as when to hold and when to sell. How do they know these things? The Conscious Investor: Profiting from the Timeless Value Approach provides the answer--stock valuation methods.

As an investor, if you're unable to measure a stock's true value, then it's all but impossible to know whether your purchase is likely to prove profitable. Your "unconscious investing" makes your hope for a financially secure future just that--a wish left to the whims of a fickle financial market. In The Conscious Investor, Dr. John Price describes the quantitative methods investors like Buffett use to determine value and, thus, whether or not an investment will make money. Dr. Price details:

• Intrinsic value and ways of measuring it

• Price-setting mechanisms and influences in the stock market, as well as the difference between pure price theories and fundamental data theories

• Real value as a combination of intrinsic value and price

• Accounting and the role of financial statements (balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and equity statement) in providing data for valuation methods

• Off-balance sheet obligations

• Key financial ratios in analyzing and filtering companies

• Over 20 valuation methods, including each of their strengths and weaknesses

Despite turbulence at the surface of "the worst financial crisis since the 1930s," investors like Buffett, Soros, and Lynch understand that underneath the uncertainty, they're still dealing with real businesses with real products and services, and that it's possible to profitably invest in them using timeless valuation methods. With The Conscious Investor, you'll know how the great investors profit from uncertainty. You'll begin the process of transforming yourself from a speculative hopeful into a wealth winner.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Conscious Investor

"The Conscious Investor is an extraordinarily comprehensive and intensive study of valuation methods. John Price lays out all the approaches to identifying mispriced stocks and systematically details their comparative strengths and weaknesses. The result is a book of exceptional practical value for serious investors."
--Martin Fridson, Global Credit Strategist, BNP Paribas Asset Management; coauthor, Financial Statement Analysis: A Practitioner's Guide

"Every once in a while someone takes the trouble to step back from the noise of investing to renew our perspective. In providing us with the tools to answer the question 'what is it really worth?' John Price has done just that. His advice is not only as timeless as the value-based approach he advocates, it's also refreshingly insightful."
--James O'Loughlin, CEO, JOL Consulting; author, The Real Warren Buffett: Managing Capital, Leading People

"Only someone with Dr. Price's mathematical background could separate story telling from fact when it comes to valuing a stock. His excellent book walks the reader through the different methods of calculating value and does the investing community a great service. This book should be on the desk of every investor."
--Charles Mizrahi, editor, Hidden Values Alert and The Inevitable Wealth Portfolio; author, Getting Started in Value Investing

"Author and financial mathematician John Price is appropriately named to write a book explaining the difference between price and value. So often investors confuse the two terms and unconsciously think that price is equal to value. Readers of this book will never make that mistake and only invest when an asset is trading at a price below its value."
--Robert P. Miles, author, The Warren Buffett CEO

"There may be more to being a savvy and rational investor than can be learned from this excellent book, but not much. John has made a large part of the wisdom of the world's greatest investors accessible to anyone."
--Steve Dalton, Director of Analytics, Tradition Group; Director, Eigensys Ltd; author, Financial Applications Using Excel Add-in Development in C/C++

"Packed with useful tips to improve your stock market results."
--Hewitt Heiserman, author, It's Earnings That Count

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0470604387
• ISBN 13: 9780470604380
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384