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The
Benjamin Graham Investment Model
Although Benjamin Graham died in 1976, his investment
philosophy still lives on.
Many call Benjamin Graham the father of financial analysis
and value investing. Graham left his mark on the investment and securities
world by introducing the concept of security analysis, fundamental analysis
and value-investing theories. More than 30 years after his passing, he
continues to have one of the largest and most loyal followings of any
investment philosopher.
Graham implemented a fundamental analytical process which
has been adopted by a generation of very successful money managers. By
using Graham’s techniques, many of these managers have been able to
consistently beat market averages. Graham influenced investing giants such
as: Warren Buffett, Mario Gabelli, Michael Price, John Bogle and John Neff.
Quite simply, Graham turned speculating into investing. By devising sound
principles for analyzing a company's fundamentals and its future prospects,
he enabled stock pickers to be analysts – instead of gamblers. He espoused
many of these value-oriented principles in two timeless investing books - Security
Analysis  and
The
Intelligent Investor .
These best-selling books detail how investors can arrive at a stock or bond's
true intrinsic value through extensive fundamental research and financial
statement analysis.
Here is a brief overview of Benjamin Graham's Investing philosophy:
Graham argued that even with the best research, investors will never know all
there is to know about a company. They also cannot predict the negative
surprises that often send individual stocks harshly down.
Look for a "Margin of Safety"
One main, vital concept taught by Graham and still referred to today by
Warren Buffett, is the "Margin of Safety". The basic meaning of
this term is that investors should only buy a stock when it is available at a
discount to its underlying intrinsic value -- what the business would be worth
if it were sold presently. In order to do this, the investor must be
able to accurately estimate what the intrinsic value of any given company
might be. Along those lines, Graham offered some guidelines as to how to
calculate this intrinsic value.
The key point for investors to remember is that they should only invest in a
company when its stock is trading below what the company would sell for in
the open market. Those investors who ignore valuation concerns and
overpay for their investments are operating with zero margin of safety.
Even if their underlying companies do well, these investors can still get
hurt.
Graham made his wealth by purchasing businesses that were
so beaten-up and neglected that they sold for less than the value of their
working capital (calculated as current assets minus current
liabilities). He developed a Net Current Asset Value (NCAV) model to
determine if the company was worth its market price. The NCAV formula
subtracts all liabilities, including short-term debt and preferred stock,
from the company's current asset balance. Graham's assertion was that by
buying stocks that were trading below their NCAV, investors could manage to
pay essentially nothing for a company’s fixed assets.
Go for Big Companies with Strong Sales
According to Graham, larger companies pose far less risk. Graham's
rationale was that small companies have much more trouble dealing with
economic downturns, so it is best to invest in larger corporations. Graham
was an active investor in the 1930s during the Great Depression, where he saw
hundreds of once-thriving small companies die out. Based on his
observations, he concluded that companies with a more diverse customer base
and greater revenues had a better chance of surviving any sort of economic
turmoil.
Pick Companies that Pay Dividends
Graham was adamant about investing in companies that pay
dividends. He believed that conservative investors should only consider
companies that have paid a dividend every year for at least the last 20
years. He argued that dividends are a sign that a company is profitable
(dividends are paid from profits) and that they also offer investors a return
even if the company's stock does not perform well. The dividend “pays you to
wait.”
Buy Companies That Are in Strong Financial Health
Always being attentive to liquidity, Graham looked for
companies whose current assets exceeded the sum of their current and
long-term debt. Companies with ample access to cash (liquidity) are generally
not as risky as those with low cash balances and heavy debt levels.
Buy Companies with Sustainable Earnings Growth
Graham looked for companies with steady, rising earnings. Graham believed
that steadily improving earnings would lead to higher share price in the
future.
Watch Price Multiples
Graham sought companies with price/earnings ratios that were below their
historical average. Graham also took a careful look at price/book values. In
fact, he wouldn't purchase a stock unless it was trading for less than 1.2
times its book value (total assets minus total liabilities) per share. Example:
A company with $1 billion in assets and $800 million in debt has a book value
of $200 million. If the company has 10 million outstanding shares of stock,
then its per-share book value is $20. Graham would not pay more than
$24 per share (1.2 times the book value per share) for this particular stock.
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