Book Review: Corporate Financial Analysis

I wish I had found this book years ago. Fundamental Analysis when done right requires a thorough understanding of every line item in every financial statement- what is it, what ratios use it, and most importantly, what does it tell you about the business you are trying to analyze.

I have read more than a few books on this subject, most take the approach of showing each line item of each statement and then providing an explanation of the ratios that use it and then how these ratios work. This approach of explanation has all the excitement of reading the dictionary and as a result when reading these books I often find myself staring off into nowhere or deciding that now is the perfect time to go out and clean those pesky rain gutters.
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The Significance of Fundamental Analysis

Investing is done successfully by understanding direction, and velocity, not by looking at velocity alone. Velocity (in this simplified context) is the speed and distance a company achieves over time, this may be earnings, profit, sales or margin. Direction is which way the company is pointing, up or down, this speaks to a deep value assessment, or an understanding of the health of the overall business.

If you would like to profit from the stock market I would argue that you as an investor need to have a thorough understanding of each of these elements to truly estimate your risk in any given investment. Too often the analysis of companies is lopsided towards an appreciation of the sheer velocity with little regard to direction.
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Best Insider Traders

I am willing to concede that company insiders know more about their businesses than I could ever learn about it by reading financial statements. This is why I use insider trading as part of my assessment critieria. The fact that all company insiders are not created equal should come as no surprise- who would you trust to know more about a business, the chief accountant or the janitor?

So what are the best job titles when it comes to insider trading? To give my analysis on this let me first set a few ground rules:
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Buffett and Understandable Businesses

In a previous post we discussed the Four filters of Invention of Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger by Bud Labitan. I felt that some of the material needed a more thorough description than I could provide in my overview so I would like to look exclusively at the first of the four filters, namely finding understandable companies and contribute some of my own thoughts.
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