Rating: 
Summary: All Value Investors Will Want To Read
Review: "Value Investing" is a book most value investors will want to read. As I progressed through the early Chapters of the book I was starting to form the impression that this book was the best of its type I have read - and I have read more than a few!! In the end I backed off giving the book "superstar" status but would still without reservation place it in the 5 stars must read category - especially for those about to read their first book on "value investing".Chapter 3 discussing the "Three Slices of Value" is the highlight of the book. The book is very readable - and unlike many similar texts has a good blend of the conceptual with quantitative examples. For those that have already read extensively in this area the second part of the book on famous value investors will be going over old ground. From time to time the book raises concepts such as "Enterprise Value" and "Dividend Discount Model" with little or no explanation which could leave the novice reader frustrated. The book also leaves few clues about further resources that the reader might tap to dig even deeper into the topic. Despite these negatives a great addition to my library which I have already gone back to for reference purposes.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Addition
Review: A highly readable addition to the value-investing greats that manages to impart a great deal of the "details" while still remaining an easy-to-follow, literate book. Only drawback is that the investor profiles are not consistent -- they were evidently written by different authors and their quality is sporadic.
Rating:
Summary: cheaper than getting a columbia mba
Review: able presentation of popular value investing course taught by best teacher at columbia b'school. clear & down-to-earth, by a very smart guy.
Rating: 
Summary: Elementary Book on "Value Investing"
Review: An investment book that belongs to the "easy-reading" section - one that takes an elementary spin on the subject title and purported to offer a "versatile" approach to value investing.
Fundamentalists/money managers wishing to stay on track or obtain a refresher's course on hard-core "value investing" will do well in (re-)reading Benjamin Graham's excellent "The Intelligent Investor" and "Security Analysis" as well as "The Essays of Warren Buffett" instead.
Rating:
Summary: Serves as Both a Great Primer & Also a Great Idea Generator
Review: Ben Graham may have done for investing what Euclid did for geometry, but the Graham student must take a long and winding road to collect and organize Grahamian "theorems." Greenwald modernizes and thoughtfully organizes the value framework originally expounded by Graham, and shows how investors might take -and in the final section of the book, how several master investors DO take- Graham's notion of buying dollar bills for fifty cents and apply this central idea in creative ways to some of the less frequented areas of the market. Greenwald et.al. show a terrific aptitude for remaining informal and conversational while maintaining brevity and orderliness. Neophytes are unlikely to encounter a clearer, more concise explanation of `discounting future cash flows', and most students of value investing will be well-served by Greenwald's order of equity valuation: (1) Asset Value, (2) Earnings Power, (3) Growth, all of which are clearly explained. Additionally, Greenwald discusses a useful addition to common metrics such as `net asset value' and `liquidation value' with the concept of `replacement cost'. Greenwald also acknowledges and thoughtfully attempts to quantify the value investor's less traditionally acknowledged principle of `franchise value', which he judiciously attributes to Warren Buffett as the latter's singular contribution to investment analysis. The book's admirable brevity is also its primary shortcoming. Whereas Graham included senior debt and convertible debt vehicles both in Security Analysis and in his investment practices, this text is for all practical purposes only an examination of equities. If the authors of "Value Investing" ever opt to write about a value approach to bonds and other instruments, I'll bet they'd have a captive audience.
Rating:
Summary: Serves as Both a Great Primer & Also a Great Idea Generator
Review: Ben Graham may have done for investing what Euclid did for geometry, but the Graham student must take a long and winding road to collect and organize Grahamian "theorems." Greenwald modernizes and thoughtfully organizes the value framework originally expounded by Graham, and shows how investors might take -and in the final section of the book, how several master investors DO take- Graham's notion of buying dollar bills for fifty cents and apply this central idea in creative ways to some of the less frequented areas of the market. Greenwald et.al. show a terrific aptitude for remaining informal and conversational while maintaining brevity and orderliness. Neophytes are unlikely to encounter a clearer, more concise explanation of 'discounting future cash flows', and most students of value investing will be well-served by Greenwald's order of equity valuation: (1) Asset Value, (2) Earnings Power, (3) Growth, all of which are clearly explained. Additionally, Greenwald discusses a useful addition to common metrics such as 'net asset value' and 'liquidation value' with the concept of 'replacement cost'. Greenwald also acknowledges and thoughtfully attempts to quantify the value investor's less traditionally acknowledged principle of 'franchise value', which he judiciously attributes to Warren Buffett as the latter's singular contribution to investment analysis. The book's admirable brevity is also its primary shortcoming. Whereas Graham included senior debt and convertible debt vehicles both in Security Analysis and in his investment practices, this text is for all practical purposes only an examination of equities. If the authors of "Value Investing" ever opt to write about a value approach to bonds and other instruments, I'll bet they'd have a captive audience.
Rating: 
Summary: There are much better titles available
Review: Half of the book is a history of several value investors. But this section is quite superficial in how these individuals screened/found the opportunities they did. Little is told of how they valued the companies and how a wanna-be investor should procede in doing this themselves. The first half of the book is ok, but again could use more help in terms of how to find prospective value companies. Chapter 6 is about the only good chapter. It analyses WD-40 (the company). I recommend instead "The Intelligent Investor" (2003 ed.) by the late Ben Graham and Jason Zweig. It lives up to Buffett's praise of "...by far the best book about investing ever written."
Rating:
Summary: Value Investing in the 21st Century
Review: I am a professional investor (CFA charter holder and portfolio manager) and would suggest this book for anyone interested in the value style of investing. I would not recommend the book for a novice investor since some terminology is not explained. (Perhaps read this book after reading and understanding Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor.) However, the book is an excellent read for someone with an understanding of investing. The book is divided into two main parts: The authors' views of different ways to value a company and profiles of successful value investors. I think the authors' Earnings Power Value (EPV) approach to valuing a company is cutting edge. (Basically EPV is a rehash of Enterprise Value.) Most investors tend to value stocks based on P/E ratios - only looking at equity in a company. However, the proper way to value a company is to look at its whole capital structure - Debt, Equity & Cash. EPV is a much better tool than the P/E ratio for calculating whether a company is undervalued. The second part of the book that profiles a half dozen or so successful value investors is interesting. It illustrates there are many different ways to execute a value oriented approach. The profiles do not give any hard cut rules that each investor follows, but it does give you a general idea. (I have been successful at applying some of the ideas in managing my own account.) The only flaw of the profiles is the lack of any type of track record. It would have been helpful to list the year-by-year returns for each investor compared to an index. (i.e. S&P 500 Index) Overall, it's a great book and it deserves a spot behind Ben Graham's Security Analysis and Intelligent Investor.
Rating:
Summary: Best Investing Course in Print
Review: I have read numerous books on the topic of investing, including Security Analysis, The Intelligent Investor, Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, One Up on Wall Street, Beat the Street, The Warren Buffett Way, and more. But this book is the most detailed and usefully instructive that I have found - at least since The Intelligent Investor. If you have an interest in accurately modeling the investment philosophies of the most successful investors, you will find this book to be invaluable.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for beginners
Review: I think some expect this to be "the Intelligent Investor" which is decidedly is not. But for a lighter modern intro to what kind of thinking is behind value investing this book succeeds quite well. Enough examples to get the idea across. And written so it reads easily. If you find yourself wanting more, then just order "the Intelligent Investor" for your next read.
But this book succeeds quite well in the areas it aims to make clear.
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