Value Investing Today

Rating:
Summary: A Good Appetizer
Review: Charles Brandes had the good fortune to be the broker of the day when Benjamin Graham walked into his La Jolla office one day.  Benjamin Graham was then retired and living in La Jolla.  Charles Brandes quickly became a convert to value investing and with some encouragement from Benjamin Graham, started Brandes Investment Management.   Today, his firm has the distinction of being rated #1 for the last ten years in the category of U.S. investment managers of foreign stocks.  Like John Templeton, he applied value investing principles to foreign financial markets with outstanding results.

Value Investing Today by Charles Brandes is a primer for those who want to learn more about investing in foreign markets.  The purpose of the book is to cover general principles rather than a detailed discussion of security analysis.   Foreign investing is more complicated because of the difference in accounting principles and other considerations.  This is a good place to learn the basics but for the meat and potatoes on value investing, see Benjamin Graham's Security Analysis.

Rating:
Summary: Explains simply modern value investing.
Review: I recently purchased Value Investing Today hoping to find a book that would give me information on how to select value stocks. Instead, what I found was a book that just skimmed the surface on value investing. The interesting part about the book was its emphasis on foreign stocks as value investments. But then the book went into detail as to accounting differences between countries - squashing the idea that an individual could pick single foreign stocks. I think this book would be good for someone who had no idea what value investing was and just wanted to get a broad overview of the subject / technique. I would not recommend this book to someone who was looking for any kind of in depth information. While this book did have some interesting / valuable pieces of information, I don't see it as a book that an investor would refer to often. My suggestion: Get the book out of the library and read it once.

Rating:
Summary: Value investing for the beginner from a pro
Review: On a recent trip to Brandes Investment Management to consider them as a money manager, I was given this book as the founder of the firm wrote it. It attempts to be a current day update of the Benjamin Graham "Value Investing" philosophy but it's really a current day value investing book written in layman's terms.

If you believe in value investing or if you want to easily understand the principal, then this is the book for you. It's a very quick read, which can be finished in less than five hours, as it has less than 200 pages.

The actual philosophy of value investing and points to look for in a company were brief, concise and very well written. The most valuable part of the book to me was the chapters on value investing overseas where foreign stock exchange results were compared with America. I came away with a better understanding and believe that opportunities for investing overseas would be desirable from a value and diversification standpoint.

A good "skim" read on a tough subject that I still recommend to the right audience.

Rating:
Summary: Value investing for the beginner from a pro
Review: On a recent trip to Brandes Investment Management to consider them as a money manager, I was given this book as the founder of the firm wrote it. It attempts to be a current day update of the Benjamin Graham "Value Investing" philosophy but it's really a current day value investing book written in layman's terms.

If you believe in value investing or if you want to easily understand the principal, then this is the book for you. It's a very quick read, which can be finished in less than five hours, as it has less than 200 pages.

The actual philosophy of value investing and points to look for in a company were brief, concise and very well written. The most valuable part of the book to me was the chapters on value investing overseas where foreign stock exchange results were compared with America. I came away with a better understanding and believe that opportunities for investing overseas would be desirable from a value and diversification standpoint.

A good "skim" read on a tough subject that I still recommend to the right audience.

Rating:
Summary: Explains simply modern value investing.
Review: Successful money manager, Charles Brandes, explains in plain language the important lessons taught by Benjamin Graham. He lays out simply how to screen companies for inclusion in an optimal portfolio, how to construct a portfolio, and how the patient investor can achieve extraordinary returns. Importantly, he demystifies foreign investing and builds on Graham's tenets with a thoughtful discourse on international security analysis. He makes an important case for a heavy weighting in non-US equities, and he defends his case for a 100% position in common equities to the exclusion of preferred equities and bonds. "Value Investing Today" is a must-read for the long-term wealth builder.