Calandro - Applied Value Investing: The Practical Application of Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffetts Valuation Principles to Acquisitions, Catastrophe Pricing and ... Execution

Praise for Applied Value Investing

Calandros clever application of value investing principles to corporate decision-making could transform how businesses operate and what business school students are taught. This thought-provoking work takes value investing to the next level.

Seth A. Klarman, president, The Baupost Group, L.L.C.; lead editor of Graham and Dodds Security Analysis, Sixth Edition; and author of Margin of Safety

After seventy-five years, Graham and Dodd remains the true North Star for those seeking the Rosetta Stone to unlock values. Professor Joseph Calandro adopts Graham and Dodds fundamental premises and uses them to focus on new dynamics.

Mario J. Gabelli, CFA, chairman and CEO, GAMCO Investors, Inc.

Calandros application of Graham and Dodd principles outside the traditional realm of value investing involves multi-disciplinary thinking, a necessary skill for constructively framing and reframing the investment landscape in todays chaotic world. Particularly interesting is Calandros chapter on the relationship between Graham and Dodds discussion of the market valuation cycle of greed and fear, and the top down macro ideas of George Soros. In essence, Calandro shows how Mr. Markets bipolar psychology can be linked to Soros concepts of reflexivity and feedback between conditions on Wall Street and Main Street. Given the wild downward oscillations we have experienced over the last year, every value investor should be able to weave these two investment approaches together to understand when and why a cycle develops, and where market behavior diverges significantly from the fundamentals.

Mitchell R. Julis, co-chairman and co-CEO, Canyon Partners, L.L.C.

Joseph Calandros Applied Value Investing is the most important business book of our time. Today our global economy is in the throes of major readjustment, and this books analysis is a critical navigation tool to help executives and investors find and create value. Calandro extends the classic work of Graham and Dodd to evaluate mergers and acquisitions, catastrophe-based alternative investment, and most importantly integrates it with a strategic framework for managers to determine if they are truly creating value above their cost of capital, risk adjusted. It is also well written, practical, and an enjoyable read.

Dr. John J. Sviokla, vice chairman, Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, and former associate professor of Harvard Business School

For anyone interested in the interface between strategy and finance CEOs, CFOs, operations executives, planners, investors, analysts, and risk managersApplied Value Investing by Joseph Calandro, Jr. offers two key lessons that are potentially extremely rewarding. One is that business leaders can find new sources of competitive advantage if they learn to think like highly successful investors. The other is that investors and analysts can gain valuable insights if they study how a company achieves the creative interaction of strategy, resource allocation, performance management, and risk management. In other words, investors should learn to think like astute business leaders. Calandros groundbreaking book integrates these two lessons into a holistic and practical business framework, which can be used to either assess or manage a business.

Robert M. Randall, editor, Strategy & Leadership, and coauthor of The Portable MBA in Strategy

This is an extremely smart book. The three chapters on M&A alone are worth the price of admission. If executives will adopt the discipline that Joseph Calandro lays out, they will avoid many, many costly mistakes.

Paul B. Carroll, coauthor of Billion-Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years

Joseph Calandro successfully applies the modern approach to Graham and Dodds investment valuation. The book is a must read for all Graham and Dodd followers, and valuation practitioners.

Patrick Terrion, principal, Founders Capital Management, and author of The Company You Keep: A Commonsense Guide to Value Investing

A useful addition to every value investors library.

Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, Columbia Business School

You will enjoy learning from real world cases how to apply the investment principles of the legendary Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett. Because of outstanding writing and some fascinating corporate and financial history, this book is an excellent way to learn how to be a successful investor.

Dr. Thomas J. OBrien, professor of finance, University of Connecticut, and author of International Finance: Corporate Decisions in Global Markets

APPLIED VALUE INVESTING

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF
BENJAMIN GRAHAMS AND
WARREN BUFFETTS
VALUATION PRINCIPLES TO
ACQUISITIONS, CATASTROPHE PRICING,
AND BUSINESS EXECUTION

JOSEPH CALANDRO, JR.

Copyright 2009 by Joseph Calandro, Jr. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-07-162819-8
MHID: 0-07-162819-3

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: ISBN: 978-0-07-162818-1, MHID: 0-07-162818-5.

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