Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Whitman, Diz quote

To repeat, we do not believe in acquiring securities solely on the basis of the earnings record of a company or on the outlook for its reported earnings. Neither do we think that an investment program based on acquiring securities simply because they are available at large discounts from NAV would necessarily be well advised. Availability at a large discount from book does give a first approximation that a security may be a bargain, or even that it may be attractive according to the fundamental finance approach. But this first approximation ought to be tempered by a more thorough analysis. In order for NAV to be a good indicator of the wealth or future earning power of a business, other factors must be considered as well.