Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett
Twenty Cases
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- $32.99
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- $32.99
Publisher Description
Since the 1950s, Warren Buffett and his partners have backed some of the twentieth century's most profitable, trendsetting companies. But how did they know they were making the right investments? What did Buffet and his partners look for in an up-and-coming company, and how can others replicate their approach?
A gift to Buffett followers who have long sought a pattern to the investor's success, Inside the Investments of Warren Buffett presents the most detailed analysis to date of Buffet's long-term investment portfolio. Yefei Lu, an experienced investor, starts with Buffett's interest in the Sanborn Map Company in 1958 and tracks nineteen more of his major investments in companies like See's Candies, the Washington Post, GEICO, Coca-Cola, US Air, Wells Fargo, and IBM. Accessing partnership letters, company documents, annual reports, third-party references, and other original sources, Lu pinpoints what is unique about Buffett's timing, instinct, use of outside knowledge, and postinvestment actions, and he identifies what could work well for all investors in companies big and small, domestic and global. His substantial chronology accounts for broader world events and fluctuations in the U.S. stock market, suggesting Buffett's most important trait may be the breadth of his expertise.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Warren Buffett's investment acumen is frequently celebrated but less often analyzed, and those analyses are rarely as thorough or dispassionate as this one from debut author Lu, a portfolio manager at Shareholder Value Management. Lu has selected 20 companies some obscure (the Sanborn Map Company), some household names (IBM, Coca-Cola) in which Buffett obtained an interest between 1958 and 2011. Through historical research and financial statement analysis, Lu has attempted to divine what Buffett saw in them. Some common themes emerge. Buffett preferred, as he quipped, to buy a wonderful company at a fair price rather than a fair company at a wonderful price. He also looked for transparency; consistent earnings growth or compounded returns; good management; and opportunities to outperform the stock market through undervalued securities, "workouts," or "control situations." One of Lu's conclusions is that it is indeed possible for ordinary investors to replicate Buffett. She reveals a cautious, methodical investor who sought businesses with structural advantages that grew over time and who also, in demanding a "margin of safety," seldom risked capital. For serious investors and analysts eager to transcend the cult of personality around Buffett and discern what actually makes him great, this study comes highly recommended.
